Christian Responsibility

It was hard to watch the shocking footage of Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai, 50, being shot dead by the Burmese military last week. Mr. Nagai was an innocent bystander in the way of a military government that has been bulldozing the human dignity of the thousands of Shan and Karen ethnic people it has displaced, raped, tortured, and killed, as well as the thousands of human rights and democracy activists the regime has also imprisoned and killed.

This is clearly not the kind of governing authority the apostle Paul had in mind as he told the Roman Christians to submit to the authorities. Romans 13 has often been (mistakenly) used to legitimize oppressive government. But Paul’s description of the kind of authority to which Christians must submit is one that “protects the good and punishes evil.” Later, Augustine peeled back the veneer of legitimacy that we mistakenly give to oppressive government when he rhetorically asked, “Justice removed, then, what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers?” True government authority is just, and justice surely requires much more respect of the human dignity with which each Burmese is endowed by his or her Creator.

So, what is our Christian responsibility as we watch in horror as the Burma military junta digs in its heels? Perhaps we honor the dignity of the oppressed when we pray for their protection and liberation from oppression. Even more, we join God as co-creators of justice on earth (as it is in heaven) when we actively engage the principalities and powers who are generally satisfied by our complacence. Let us thank our government for what it has done and ask it to do more to empower those on the ground in Burma seeking to breathe free.

--Bret Kincaid