Render unto Ceaser

Doug Giles latest article is pretty short. I don't know if it got cut in half by Townhall, but it doesn't look like it. The point is simple enough - early Christians rebelled against the Roman State. This is because they had Faith in God, while all of the other subjects of the Roman Empire had Faith in the State.

The early church, however, made it clear amidst this crapola that their allegiance was to Christ and not the edicts of Caesar — especially when Caesar’s dictates conflicted with the Word of God. Yep, it was the church’s disdain for Caesar’s unrighteous decrees (the decrees that required their obedience at the expense of their convictions) that got them killed.

Get it right, folks: It wasn’t the church’s belief that Jesus is God, or their love of covered dish dinners, or their Christian rock music that got them the ax; it was their holy defiance to the demonic edicts that Caesar attempted to slap them with.

Now he doesn't make clear which edicts he is talking about; nor does he make it clear which Ceaser he is talking about. Possibly he doesn't know or didn't consider it relevant. But it is an interesting reconstruction of that part of history. Rather than being innocent victims, peaceably trying to live the dictates of their new religion, Giles recasts them as rebels, defiantly standing up to the state. Kind of like the tea-partiers I guess.

Let's look at a reader comment from Tea Partier.

I contend we are in the immoral situation with a foreign psuedo POTUS, who is a Communist and a muslim in his heart because the American Church has allowed itself to become intimidated by the IRS.

. . . We need a resugence of the Black Brigade to speak the truth to power regardless of the IRS. If the modern church stopped bowing and scraping to the taxman they would be in stronger positions to challenge the ungodly turn this Republic is taking. And could by their stand, help restore us to our judeo/christian roots.

I'm not sure what the term Black Brigade is intended to refer to. There were Black Brigades in Mussolini's Italy, charged with fighting the Allies as well as Italians who were insufficiently exuberant in supporting Mussolini. There was a Black Brigade made up of African Americans that defended the city of Cincinnati in the Civil War. There was a movie, entitled the Black Brigade, about a bunch of all black troops blowing up a dam in Nazi Germany. So I guess I'm not sure which one Tea Partier is referring to.

Still, he does seem to want a brigade of some sort to stand up to Obama.