Kingdom Rights
Jonathan Gallagher January/February 2001
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Yet the pressing questions of freedom or acquiescence under state authority continue. The issue might be framed as one of kingdom rights. How are individuals and a society to address the trade-off between individual freedoms and collective benefit? The right to dissent from a majority consensus may be a laudable philosophical ideal, but as a practical process in society it is a very different and difficult matter. Most of all is this so when such choices to dissent or disobey arise from religious convictions that are seen as directly attacking the very fabric of the governmental process. In such instances the reaction of the state can be swift and severe, since toleration of individual conscience seems only permissible when the functioning of government is not otherwise disturbed.
Is religious freedom to be seen as an inalienable right, or is it circumscribed by the responsibility of allegiance to the state? Are the principles of civil disobedience particularly relevant to freedom of religion, or are such principles out of harmony with the fundamentals of religious beliefs? And if civil disobedience should be invoked when religious liberty is compromised, to what extent are