I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint. – Habakkuk 2:1
The same-sex marriage movement lost its first major case in a federal appeals court November 11th after a lengthy string of victories, creating a split among the nation’s circuit courts that virtually guarantees Supreme Court review.
The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit reversed district court rulings that had struck down gay marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Perhaps the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) received something of a belated affirmation when the panel of the Sixth Circuit in a 2-1 decision ruled in favor of traditional marriage. Until now, no other federal appellate court has ruled in this manner. Predictably, news reports credited the decision with “sending shock-waves” across the nation and essentially guaranteeing a Supreme Court ruling.
A recent essay by Dr. Albert Mohler on November 11 points to the ruling’s almost breathtaking language by the majority opinion released by Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton. I strongly urge readers to download and read the ruling Sutton penned in this decision as it harks back to an earlier time in America when the rule of law, tradition and common sense were once highly esteemed. By an earlier time I mean in the last few short years.
This ruling contains fundamental truths that pastors and others in ministry as well as leaders within local congregations and the community can cite and recite in the debates that may follow this decision.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. – 2 Cor. 10:2
Judge Sutton’s language and his thorough reasoning within the Constitutional framework is, by Mohler’s assessment, “a masterpiece of logic and a compelling argument for the rule of law.” I can’t help but agree. But in reading the judgment and the review by Dr. Mohler, I began to contemplate the distance between logic and the stunning detachment from reality so often found in the language of belligerent, illusive and fatuous pronouncements by the liberal/progressive “thinkers” of our generation.
What happened to reason I wonder? When did the culture dispossess itself of it? And why does it seem as if it happened overnight? Because judged in the schema of human history, it did. And that is what is really deeply concerning to me. The astonishing velocity of the tide of events that has led to the state of affairs we now face, not just here, around the world to be sure, but most importantly here – The last best hope for the world: America.
America by any sane measurement really is the last best hope of the world. Discounting the maniacal adherents of Sharia and the Koran, much of the rest of the world, begrudgingly or not, considers America the last bastion for stability and prosperity. (I am excluding of course hegemonies like China and Russia. But then these are the very nations that compel other countries to conclude America to be more appealing.) The mighty economic engine that is America’s is one of the major reasons why this is so. But for anyone familiar with the rule of law – and in particular law based on English common law, Aristotelian ethics and most certainly Biblical precepts, America’s constitutional republic is arguably the singular reason America has assumed the rightful place as the greatest nation of the modern era. And, since nations are the exclusive product of the modern era, it can be argued America is the greatest nation in all of history. Following the collapse of the Soviet Empire, America became the world’s sole super power.
So, does America truly deserve this status? America as a democratic, constitutional republic earned this stature sometime during its 227 years of remarkable endurance, effort and exceptionalism. But there are those who say our recent and current economic and cultural issues may threaten that distinction sooner rather than later.
World views, if they are to be firmly held and readily defended must be the product of observation and education within a curious and discerning individual cosmos. If you read G K Chesterson’s Orthodoxy you’ll find the concept elaborately and eloquently laid out. A world view that sees the right order of things must ultimately determine if the rule of law is preferable to the rule of, well, something else.
For example: Following a lengthy and exhaustive search for the truth, a Grand Jury found no reason to indict Officer Darren Wilson of any charges following his fatal shooting of Michael Brown in the course of his duties as a police officer under assault. But it is painfully obvious that not everyone will be satisfied with a “no true bill” by the Grand Jury in Ferguson as the outcome does not comport with either their world view or their personal agenda. Indeed, as we now know much of the rioting, looting, and vandalism was from imported trouble makers who preferred only to plunder and destroy. The Grand Jury is a particularly distinctive and valuable feature of American jurisprudence. Dismissing the process, particularly the unique proceedings of the Ferguson deliberation, as politically or racially biased is provably wrong-headed. provably wrong-headed.
Ultimately world affairs are strung together on the arc of history and America owes her heritage to many important events – all leading one by one to the other. This is an essential component of a well-developed Christian world view in America.
Talk about heritage. Read it here.
But if we are to be the generation that witnesses the end of the rule of law, it will be because we have become complacent – willing to sacrifice the laws of God and nature to the exigencies of security, safety, and comfort. It wouldn’t be the first time a great nation or empire has done so.
If America is in decline as some would argue, it is because she has abdicated the rule of law for something else. Anything else is a dead end. It always means no turning back. Ponder the long and winding path that brought us to where we are today.
America can be defined as a nomocracy. Look it up. Now here is something interesting: According to the World Justice Project there are four universal principles for the rule of law as viewed from this one secular resource:
1. The government and its officials and agents as well as individuals and private entities are accountable under the law.
2. Laws are clear, publicized, stable, and just; are applied evenly; and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
3. The process by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced is accessible, fair, and efficient.
4. Justice is delivered timely by competent, ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals that are of sufficient number, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.
(While the World Justice Project has no apparent support for a Christian world-view, I for one find these principles worthy of review. See how they compare with the rights granted by the Constitution of the United States.)
But when we examine these principles a question comes to mind:
I wouldn’t count on it.
1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish. – Psalm 1:1-4 (NKJV)
Beware. We are witnessing the erosion and the corrosion of the rule of law in America right now. Do you doubt it? If you have been paying attention to the news broadcasts and a host of other resources delivering current events these last few years, you cannot escape this conclusion. The time to combat this development has long since arrived. In future essays on this very topic I will attempt – as far as I am able – to elaborate on the relatively few options we have at hand to meet the challenge of protecting liberties and freedoms we believe are given by God. Our church and our communities are deserving of our efforts to engage the culture that is subsuming us and stop ducking for cover.
It is time we be the men of Issachar. It is time we declare and affirm our sovereign is Jesus Christ our Lord, and the government is upon His shoulders.
Be wise and be blessed.