The perspectives of Christian leaders from Peru, Argentina, Spain.
A church building. / [link]Daniel Tseng[/link] (Unsplash, CC0)
Read the original version of this article in Spanish.
Pastor John MacArthur of California's Grace Community Church, who is held in high esteem and respected by the evangelical community worldwide, issued a document that is intended to biblically and theologically support a call to civil disobedience.
The church decided to open its congregation worship places, clashing with the sanitary measures taken by the authorities, specifically, those which ask to limit the massive concentration of people as a way to avoid Covid-19 contagion .
The document exhibits brilliant religious rhetoric and a theological substance worthy of the best anthologies on the subject., as well as useful reference to understand the order, the relationship and the limits, within their respective areas, of the fundamental principles of authority established by God for the proper functioning of the family, the society, the State and the church.
However, this document of such high biblical and theological flight, crashes to the ground and loses its relevance and practical meaning when it projects its application to the context and reality that we live today.
Its real relevance is as ineffective as the religious practice and accumulated wisdom of the priest and the Levite who passed by the dramatic reality of a wounded and battered man who, lying on the road, was waiting for a helping hand to receive help.
Neither theological knowledge nor denominational labels are relevant when life - that life that God has given to all - demands to be cared for promptly and lovingly.
In a context of real persecution, the MacArthur document would be an ideal theological guide, but the measures taken by the authorities, although it is true that they limit rights, do so for everyone equally. No one can allege persecution or claim they are being particularly harmed.
The measures against Covid-19 can be irritating, debatable, and amended in some of their aspects, but what is not debatable is that in their essence and spirit they are oriented to protect health and preserve life, supreme values that the Lord has given us, values that we should protect for His glory.
The document closes with an addendum that seeks to justify the reaction of the church with its call for civil disobedience after the limitation of its activities for more than 20 weeks.
The addendum adds that the original death projections were wrong and that the virus is not as dangerous as originally feared. Pastor MacArthur personally maintains that Covid-19 has only killed 8,500 people in the state of California.
It is further alleged that the shepherds’ ability to care about their flocks has been severely reduced and that the unity and influence of the church have been threatened.
A point that draws the attention of this addendum is the one that argues that the restrictions in force are projected until next year and the main public events that were planned for 2021 are already being cancelled. And it concludes that this forces churches to choose between the clear mandate of our Lord and that of government officials. Therefore, following the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, Grace Church gladly chooses to “obey Him”.
Professor Jaime Daniel Caballero (July 2020), in an extensive article makes some comments on this document, among which he points out that MacArthur's call for civil disobedience is a serious error and absurd because the government is not interfering in the sphere of authority of the Church, preventing it from gathering.
The church is being asked to limit its meetings, as it has been done with the other (non-religious) activities.
Caballero argues that this is a problem of megachurches and of the way in which the Lord's church has been conceived in today's world.
Beyond a building and according to the context, churches can gather its members in houses, public squares, parks, cemeteries and public spaces. In such contexts, it is possible to sing songs, pray, read psalms and preach the Word.
Caballero says that perhaps the Lord is allowing this situation so that we recover the theological and historical concept of what the Church is, a Church ‘infected’ to a great extent today by a pop culture that privileges massification and entertainment over the essential meanings of what life is.
Argentinian pastor and theologian Norberto Saracco (June 2020), recognises that the sudden and unexpected nature of these Covid-19 measures around the world have caused serious inconveniences and limitations to some churches in the normal life of their communities, in areas of pastoral care and in the area of finances.
He argues that as a result of social isolation, altered and uncontrollable behaviours have appeared, which can lead to consequences that are difficult to foresee.
This, he says, has led some pastors around the American continent to organise church meetings even when these may expose hundreds of their members to the contagion of COVID-19.
“These pastors are unable to measure the serious consequences of their attitudes, both for public health and for the witness of the church”, Saracco writes.
Saracco regrets that there are pastors who can only live their faith as a kind of show that cannot stop and must go on. In no way do we glorify God risking people's health or giving a lousy example of superheroes of the faith, he says.
That attitude especially contrasts with other many churches which are contributing with thousands of volunteers and have put all kinds of resources at the service of society and the witness of the gospel Jesus Christ.
For Caballero, this eagerness arises from putting our activities on a pedestal, celebrating them in the midst of a context of death, and despite the shameful image the church will have in the eyes of society.
Both Caballero and Saracco think that this fever to open worship places, has to do with the personality and the inflamed character of some leaders and pastors.
But let us return with Caballero to the theological aspect of Pastor MaCarthur's call for civil disobedience. To justify civil disobedience, Caballero maintains, there has to be an interference in the church that can be described as persecution. The State would have to be interfering in matters of faith and people's conscience or attributing powers in terms of faith and beliefs that belong to the church.
Furthermore, the State would have to be issuing regulations specifically against the church, which is not the case. A glance at sports stadiums today would be enough to make all this clearly explicit.
When it comes to freedom of conscience, there is another interesting point that Caballero presents and on which he considers that MacArthur is also wrong. It is in what has to do with exerting the influence of his leadership on weak consciences of Christians who think that by not following the call to civil disobedience they are breaking their loyalty and commitment to the Lord.
This is complicated and serious. A person's health and life are at stake around the question, should I be loyal to the Lord and to my denomination or church? Here we would have to discern, with great care and Christian love, what freedom of conscience means. It is a matter of human dignity.
A person, Caballero explains, belongs simultaneously to the spheres of family, Church and the State. The State has authority over the Church and the Family in matters related to the natural law, but not in those related to the law of Christ.
That is, the State can close a church where the pastor is a rapist, or a fraudster, because these matters correspond to natural law. But it cannot tell them what they should believe about the Trinity, or apply ecclesiastical discipline sanctions, because they are under a different law.
In the event that there is an imminent danger of death, the State has the task of preserving life. And this is the background and central point of the whole discussion. Is being infected with COVID-19 an imminent danger of death? The whole discussion is reduced to this point.
MacArthur does not believe that COVID-19 is life threatening. If you believe the same as him, says Caballero, then “you are free to follow him, but if not, don't do it”.
Caballero understands that freedom of conscience applies to everyone, so if MacArthur’s church wants to open its doors, let them do so, but do not disturb the weak and theologically and historically uninformed consciences of most evangelicals.
Dr. Xesús Manuel Suárez (July 2020) has also made important observations on civil disobedience in this pandemic context. He complains about cases of government negligence and the use of some powers to improperly expand their power and control over society.
He cites the case of the Spanish government, which knowing the seriousness of the situation that was coming, allowed mass demonstrations and events just before declaring a state of alarm, and, at the same time, took advantage of the state of emergency, inadequately expanding its powers.
Dr. Suarez believes it is symptomatic that evangelical people and entities, who had traditionally preached uncritical submission to all governments, are now appearing as standard bearers of civil disobedience.
However, he highlights that evangelicals have historically pushed for civil disobedience, for conscientious objection (from Luther’s stance in Worms to the declaration of independence of the United States).
Suárez frames the sympathy of evangelicals towards protest in the evangelical tradition of fruitful historical struggle for democratic values. He understands that civil disobedience is only valid if it is accompanied by a responsible attitude and if churches are ready to respond for their decision and its consequences.
The question that then arises is: what are the consequences? This is a crisis that carries ethical consequences that are deeply linked to the essence and dignity of human life. It is not a small thing.
Dr. Suárez reminds us that the first responsibility we have as pastors is to watch over the lives of the people of the congregation and the rest of society, and he highlights that “we cannot demand a return to normal church meetings if we do not demonstrate that we do it looking after the vital risk of people, with an informed and responsible criteria”.
He concluded inviting us as a brothers and sisters to exercise our civil responsibility rigorously before the Lord, our brothers and their fellow citizens. But doing it with a great degree of prudence, applying the mandate of Acts 20:28: “Look for you, and for all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops”.
A document published in the midst of this pandemic by the Executive Committee of the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of the Argentinian Republic (ACIERA, May 2020) begins by asking what benefits would the attitudes of disobedience have for the people and the work of God, at a time when the care of our neighbour should be prioritised over our own activities.
The document states that “as pastors we must have as a primary responsibility the care of lives, both those of our congregation and of all others”. “When we identify ourselves as 'pro-life' this does not only apply to abortion, but has to do with protecting life in all circumstances”. For this reason, they emphatically conclude that “there is no religious activity, no matter how spiritual, that is above life and the common good”.
The church, when it follows sanitary norms that comes from the State, even if they are not the most sympathetic, should not pose the dilemma of whether we are serving the Lord or the Caesar.
The State is to regulate civil life in a general sense, and if the State's norms have a general and egalitarian approach which tries to serve the common good, then the reasons for the reaction of the church should not be presented as that kind of dilemma.
The reason for these controversies, as the authors I have quoted above, have more to do with the personal shortcomings of some leaders and pastors, as well as with the distortions that have historically been made in the development of our churches, especially in recent years.
Tomás Gómez Bueno is a theologian, author, and pastor of a church in the Dominican Republic.
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