And You're Working For No One But Me
Happy Tax Day, and here’s hoping everybody made it to the post office on time! (Hi Dad. : ) Or did you? Is anyone out there, being the thoughtful, engaged Catholics that you are, choosing conscientious tax resistance?
Tax resistance is closely associated with those who oppose war (last year nearly half of the federal budget went to the military), although this useful Wikipedia entry points out that some Libertarians and anarchists also do it. Many in the Catholic Worker movement practice conscientious tax objection, although I recall from Dorothy Day’s biography that she herself wasn’t sure about the moral implications of paying taxes as a pacifist in a warmaking country. (She herself did not pay taxes because of her radical poverty, but she knew that solution wasn’t possible for everyone.)
The interesting thing about it from a non-expert’s perspective is that this would seem to be one of the few moral quandaries in modern life about which Jesus has left us explicit instructions. Remember “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s?” And it’s not as though Our Lord only condoned participation in a kinder, gentler state. The Roman empire, at the time of Jesus’ ministry, was busy making war in several parts of the globe, including the active oppression of Jesus’ own people.
So what do you think? Are conscientious tax objectors who try to withhold their financial support from unjust wars misinterpreting Jesus’ intentions? Or am I perhaps interpreting the Gospel out of context?
Labels: Dorothy Day, Matthew, money, peace, tax resistance
posted by Theologienne @ 9:43 PM
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2 Comments:
I think you are misintrepreting, but maybe not in the way you think you are.
the Biblical "Jesus" was a subjugated Jew, living under Roman occupation, and probably one of many Messiahs competing for the public square. Jesus' argument (one that left a lot of Jews cold, presumably) was one of "Hey, as Messiah, I'm not here to stop the Roman Empire from collecting taxes.
That was about paying taxes to an occupying force. Paying Tribute, essentially.
The Christians in America were never in that situation. They were faced with what they were immoral expenditures, but never, ever, ever, were American Citizens asked to worship a statue of George III.
Really, there is no analogue, as both countries identified themselves as Christian.
You can interpret "Render unto Caesar..." as worldly vs. the spiritual. You can also interpret as "Give the oppressor what he wants, and live quietly and peacefully under him."
When Biblical Scripture was used to indoctrinate the Slaves of the New Continent, that's how it was interpreted, surely.
It is important, I meant to say, that in Jesus' time--Caesar was considered a God.
Caesar wasn't just the Civic Authority. He was the God the army camped in Jerusalem believed in.
Comparing that to Thoreau not paying taxes to protest the Defense Budget is comparing two very different leaders, two very different situations, and it doesn't really compute.
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