“We must obey God rather than men,” said the apostles. Of course we should obey God. There is a long history in the United States of people taking those words to heart. Those who ran the Underground Railroad did so in defiance of human laws because of their understanding of God’s law. Dr. King’s “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” is an eloquent defense of civil disobedience because divine justice demanded it. Currently the “sanctuary” movement helping immigrants invoke a divine sanction underlying their defiance of federal legislation. However, the nineteen terrorists who flew airplanes into buildings also claimed they were obeying God as well. How do we tell what God really wants us to do? One useful criterion is the Golden Rule: Do unto others…
