CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

The normal course of action for Christians is one of obedience to civil authorities, when these truly seek the common good by means in accord with the natural law and respecting constitutional limits on their powers. The Second Vatican Council teaches that even when authority is corrupted, citizens should still perform whatever duties are legitimately required of them by the common good (cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 74). Moreover, at times it may be appropriate for citizens to obey unfair laws, in order to avoid giving scandal.

However, Christians, and indeed all citizens, are obliged in conscience to refuse obedience to laws and other decrees of public authority that command acts contrary to justice and the moral order. Should Caesar’s demands conflict with what is owed to God, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Where possible, such passive resistance may go hand in hand with active, positive efforts to remedy the injustice in question: “When citizens are under the oppression of a public authority which oversteps its competence . . . it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel” (Gaudium et Spes, 74; CCC 2242). Only in the most serious cases may this resistance take the form of armed conflict, which is so often ineffective and apt to provoke disorder worse than what it sets out to remedy.

See: Authority; Citizenship; Civil Law; Revolution.

Russell Shaw. Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine. Copyright © 1997, Our Sunday Visitor.

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Last Updated: Sunday, April 01, 2001 03:24:19 PM