Government is not God
By David M. Woods
Published September 15, 2006, 10:26 am in Ethics, Morality, & Justice.
In this great nation of ours that was founded upon the idea of limited government and maximum individual liberty, government is growing out of control. As I watch the news, read the editorials and opinions, and listen to talk radio, everyone out there, it seems, clamors for more, more, more with regards to government power, control, and cost.
Daily, I ask myself, how can this be? Did not my fellow countrymen study U.S. history in grade school? Were they not taught that our founding fathers distrusted state power and sought to restrain it? Did not my fellow countrymen witness the Soviet Union collapse under the tyranny of the all-powerful state?
The best answer I can conclude is: too many people cannot tell the difference between government and God. My fellow countrymen believe they are one in the same.
Allow me clearly state what should be an obvious fact: government is not God.
Let us examine some of the arguments put forth by both conservatives and liberals that attempt to equate government with God, and why these ideas are wrong:
Conservatives: the "God bless America" crowd
According to conservatives, the U.S. is a "Christian nation" because the founding fathers were all Christians, and the Declaration of Independence cedes that the rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness were granted by the creator. Even our legal statutes that ban murder and theft come right out of the Ten Commandments, so the argument goes.
One of the problems with this "Christian nation" thing is that it causes conservatives to think that God and government are one and the same. For the record: nowhere in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, nor the Bible does it say that the best form of government is theocracy.
The rights to life and liberty may indeed come from the creator, and it is true that government exists to defend those rights. But that does not imply that government is the creator. Indeed, even if government did not exist, men would still have those rights.
Contrary to conservative dogma, legal statutes in the U.S. are not based on the Ten Commandments. Murder and theft are crimes because they violate our rights to life and property. It has nothing to do with religion, and to suggest a religious basis is to say that government is supposed to play God.
Actually, the very concept of "rights" is a secular idea anyway, and is not even mentioned in the Bible. Lots of things aren't mentioned in the Bible, but that does not imply that they don't exist, or that they are evil.
Furthermore, there are some other commandments in the Ten that are not laws on books anywhere in the U.S. that I am aware of, such as commandment #1, which requires worship of the One True God, and commandment #2, which bans taking the Lord's name in vain. And then there's commandment #4, which requires that we honor our parents; it doesn't work when child abuse is involved. (Theological footnote: the Catholic commandment numbering system is used above; for Protestants, add 1 to each commandment number.)
But there are laws on the books in many places in the U.S. that ban sexual immorality (commandments #6 and #9, Catholic system). But government is not God! Sexual adulterers will be judged by God; that is not man's job. In fact, the Bible clearly states that we are not to judge others, else we shall be judged. And conservatives should not be advocating a society where the sex police can burst into someone's private bedroom and arrest mutually consenting adults for engaging in unapproved behavior.
A popular Biblical justification for conjoining government with God is found in the 13th chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans. Paul says: "Obey the government, for God is the one who put it there." One must consider all the brutal tyrannies in history, from Herod and Hitler. If they were divinely-ordained, one must ask, "What was Paul thinking?!?" But Paul was not implying that God wants government to be his agent here on Earth. Romans 13 is not directed at politicians; rather, it is directed at Christian citizens. Paul is instructing Christians to have a humble and obedient spirit. Work to change oppressive laws, but still pay your taxes faithfully.
Then there is the "God bless America" rant. Now, I have no problems asking God to bless our land, our people, and our culture. The problem is that what they are really mean is: "God bless the Government." It's all just a euphemism for equating government with God. The government is already too big and too expensive; the last thing we need is for God to "bless" it so it can become even bigger and more expensive. (If anything, God needs to smite the government!) Now you take a government that has been "blessed by God," couple that with a sitting President who says he consults with God on policy decisions, and you have an imperialist force hell-bent on world domination, and death to anyone who stands in their way. But woe to any citizen who dares a contrary opinion, for if you criticize the government, then you are criticizing God himself!
The last time I checked, the Constitution doesn't say a thing about government being God. It doesn't mention anything about "separation of church and state" either, as Conservatives like to point out. But lots of thinks are not mentioned in the Constitution. There is no mention of the right to own property, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea. And just because the separation clause is not in the Constitution doesn't mean government and God should be combined.
Liberals: the "Government will care for you" crowd
A Bible passage that liberals would likely to use to justify divine governmental power would be Matthew 25:40, which reads: "Whatsoever you do for the least of my brethren, that you do unto me." Here's another from Acts 2:44-45, which says: "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."
It is one thing to implore God-fearing people to give of their possessions to help the less fortunate. It is quite another to assume that this is a job for government. Yet this is the standard liberal mindset: that Government can do no wrong. Government is the provider of all needs, the solver of all problems, the answer to all questions, the boundless fount of wisdom and generosity. In short, they believe that government is God.
They may not come right out and say that government is God, but it's implied in everything they say. Here is a typical conversation with a liberal:
Me: I have a problem.
Liberal: Well, I have a solution!
Me: You have a solution?
Liberal: You bet!
Me: I haven't even told you the problem yet.
Liberal: Doesn't matter!
Me: Ok, wise-guy, what's your solution?
Liberal: Why, the Government, of course!
The truly dangerous result of this mindset is that, repeated often enough, it spreads and proliferates among the population to the point where we don't even recognize it. On a recent TV show, experts were being interviewed on how to make builders better and safer. Without hesitation or pause, all of the experts said that the "building codes need to be changed in such and such a way..." How in the world did it become an established, non-controversial, universally understood "fact" that building construction techniques was a governmental function? What makes a government bureaucrat more knowledgeable in such areas than someone else?
There is only one reasonable explanation for this kind of thinking: people think of government as if it were God.
For the record: Government is not an any way, shape, or form wiser or more noble than any typical, average person. In fact, government is composed of ordinary people, no different than you and me. Imperfect, normal, average men and women, subject to normal human weaknesses like dishonesty and error. There is nothing about government employment which turns a regular human being into a super-intelligent, super-honest, all-knowing deity.
Examples of governmental waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement are so routine, so recurring, so commonplace that we citizens become immune to it all. Here's just one classic example: the government bans cigarette advertising and requires warning labels on cigarette boxes, yet subsidizes tobacco farmers. Does this sound Godly to you?
Furthermore, the myth that government "cares" for you must be busted once and for all. Government doesn't give a hoot about you and your needs. Government only cares about one thing: power. Liberals foolishly made charity a governmental function, and it didn't take long at all until the only beneficiaries became the thousands of fat cat bureaucrats and politicians with their 6-digit salaries, while the poor become nothing but a bargaining chip. To equate God to typical governmental greed and ineptitude is an insult to God.
Conclusion
What would God have to say about government? Would the man Himself say that government can indeed be a dependable advocate on Earth for advancing His will? Or would He say that, when it comes right down to it, government is a bummer?
To answer this question, allow me to paraphrase a Biblical passage from 1 Samuel, chapter 8:
"Give us a government!" the people demanded.
"You don't want a government" God replied.
"Yes we do!" the people said.
"Look, if I give you a government, here's what will happen: It will turn your sons into cannon fodder, force your daughters to work in sweatshops, steal your land, your homes, your animals, and your paycheck, take away your kids, and generally make your lives miserable until you scream in agony."
The people replied, "And your point is?"
God sighed. "Very well then, here's your government. But don't say I didn't warn you!"
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