Civil disobey

As the title of “Civil Disobedience” suggests, Henry David Thoreau advocates for disobeying the government when it promotes immoral actions (such as slavery or the Mexican-American war), and he attempts to persuade his fellow Americans to pursue justice through such disobedience. Refusing to pay taxes is one of the main acts of civil disobedience—a citizen’s non-violent refusal to obey a government’s laws or demands—that Thoreau encourages. He suggests that people should not enrich the nation by paying taxes when the government is using that wealth for deplorable actions; that is, withholding funds will limit the state’s ability to do harm. While Thoreau admits that there are other channels for change, such as voting and petitioning the state, he believes that those channels can’t fundamentally change how the government operates. He argues that this is because working closely with the state as one tries to rebuild a more just version of that state can never really succeed; people will be too dependent on the state to succeed in dismantling it. Thoreau therefore argues that civil disobedience is the only way to reform America, because it allows citizens to maintain distance from the government while also working to improve that government. Thoreau believes that participating in civil disobedience to bring about meaningful change is a basic moral requirement for anyone with a conscience. Though he concedes that “it is not a man’s duty, as a matter of course, to devote himsel...

Invest In Our Future The most effective way to secure a freer America with more opportunity for all is through engaging, educating, and empowering our youth. And the most effective way to achieve that is through investing in The Bill of Rights Institute. We contribute to teachers and students by providing valuable resources, tools, and experiences that promote civic engagement through a historical framework. You can be a part of this exciting work by making a donation to The Bill of Rights Institute today! Civil Disobedience “Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?” – Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience Civil Disobedience resources: Bill of Rights Institute Resources Documents of Freedom – Documents of Freedom – American Portraits – External Resources Quotes “If the in...

Answer The emperor of Rome from AD 54 to 68 was Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known simply as Nero. The emperor was not known for being a moral and ethical person, to say the least. In AD 64 the great Roman fire occurred, with Nero himself being suspected of arson. In his writings, the Roman senator and historian Tacitus recorded, “To get rid of the report [that he had started the fire], Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace” ( Annals, XV). It was during the reign of Nero that the apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans. While one might expect him to encourage the Christians in Rome to rise up against their oppressive ruler, in chapter 13, we find this instead: “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary...

Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn WhatsApp While Thomas Aquinas firmly believed that citizens should obey those in authority, he justifies civil disobedience under two circumstances; civilians can disobey during the reign of a tyrant or when the government enforces unjust laws. Disobeying a tyrant can be justified because the argument can be proven as both valid and sound. The argument is as follows: (a) civil disobedience is justified if a tyrant is unjust; (b) the tyrant is unjust; (c) therefore, civil disobedience is justified. The justification for disobeying unjust laws can also be proven as both valid and sound: (a) civil disobedience is justified if the law is unjust; (b) the law is unjust; (c) therefore, civil disobedience is justified. The overarching theme for both arguments’ centres around the common good of the state. Since that is the case, it is important to prove how the two exceptions benefit the common good of the people to successfully defend this case. When reading books written by Thomas Aquinas, seven key terms make a regular appearance: divine law, natural law, common good, just and unjust laws, civil disobedience, and tyrant. Divine law is a law that is created by a superior, divine being that is authoritative and obstinate. It transcends history and time, and humans are exposed to it through religious writings (Floyd, n.d., par 13). Aquinas believes that God, a spirit who is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient, created the divine law. ...

A Theology of Resistance for Reluctant Protestants By Tim Cantrell A Pastor in South Africa February 2021 Part One: Introduction In July 1933, during Hitler’s first summer in power, a young German pastor named Joachim Hossenfelder preached a sermon in the towering Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin’s most important church. He used the words of Romans 13 to remind worshippers of the importance of obedience to those in authority. The church was all decked out with Nazi banners, its pews packed with the Nazi faithful and soldiers in uniform. Earlier that same year, Friedrich Dibelius, a German bishop and one of the highest Protestant officials in the country, had also preached on Romans 13 to justify all the Nazi seizures of power and brutal policies, and misquoting Martin Luther himself about the supposed paramount powers of state authority. [ Likewise, Romans 13 was a favourite text of presidents John Vorster and PW Botha here in South Africa to defend the evils of apartheid. Said Botha on Easter 1985 when addressing the Zion Christian Church masses of worshippers at their ‘Mt. Moriah’, quoting straight out of Romans 13: The Bible... has a message for the governments and the governed of the world. Thus we read in Romans 13 that every person be subject to the governing authorities. There is no authority except from God. Rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad conduct. Do what is good and you will receive the approval of the ruler. He is God’s servant for your...

• v • t • e In 1848, Thoreau gave lectures at the Concord Resistance to Civil Government in an 1849 anthology by Æsthetic Papers. Resistance also served as part of Thoreau's metaphor comparing the government to a machine: when the machine was producing injustice, it was the duty of conscientious citizens to be "a counter friction" (i.e., a resistance) "to stop the machine". In 1866, four years after Thoreau's death, the essay was reprinted in a collection of Thoreau's work ( Civil Disobedience. Today, the essay also appears under the title On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, perhaps to contrast it with Of the Duty of Civil Obedience to which Thoreau was in part responding. For instance, the 1960 Walden included a version with this title. On Civil Disobedience is another common title. The word civil has several definitions. The one that is intended in this case is "relating to citizens and their interrelations with one another or with the state", and so civil in this case means "observing accepted social forms; polite" which would make civil disobedience something like polite, orderly disobedience. Although this is an acceptable dictionary definition of the word civil, it is not what is intended here. This misinterpretation is one reason the essay is sometimes considered to be an argument for pacifism or for exclusively nonviolent resistance. For instance, Background [ ] The Civil Disobedience in 1848, just months after leaving Walden Pond. The speech dealt with slavery and ...

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. • Comment • 29 August 2022 Civil disobedience by scientists helps press for urgent climate action • ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1934-4503 • • ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8169-3691 • ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0068-8194 • ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1735-6057 • … • ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5925-9602 Show authors Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 773–774 ( 2022) Time is short to secure a liveable and sustainable future; yet, inaction from governments, industry and civil society is setting the course for 3.2 °C of warming, with all the cascading and catastrophic consequences that this implies. In this context, when does civil disobedience by scientists become justified? • Tollefson, J. Nature 599, 22–24 (2021). • IPCC: Summary for Policymakers. In Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Shukla, P. R. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022). • Stoddard, I. et al. Annu. Rev. Env. Resour. 46, 653–689 (2021). • Glavovic, B. C., Smith, T. F. & White, I. Clim. Dev. • Cologna, V. & Oreskes, N. Clim. Dev. • Green, J. F. Daedalus 149, 151–162 (2020). • Cologna, V. et al. Environ. Res. Lett. 16, 024011 (2021). • Lai, O. Climate scientists mo...

Answer The emperor of Rome from AD 54 to 68 was Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known simply as Nero. The emperor was not known for being a moral and ethical person, to say the least. In AD 64 the great Roman fire occurred, with Nero himself being suspected of arson. In his writings, the Roman senator and historian Tacitus recorded, “To get rid of the report [that he had started the fire], Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace” ( Annals, XV). It was during the reign of Nero that the apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans. While one might expect him to encourage the Christians in Rome to rise up against their oppressive ruler, in chapter 13, we find this instead: “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary...

• v • t • e In 1848, Thoreau gave lectures at the Concord Resistance to Civil Government in an 1849 anthology by Æsthetic Papers. Resistance also served as part of Thoreau's metaphor comparing the government to a machine: when the machine was producing injustice, it was the duty of conscientious citizens to be "a counter friction" (i.e., a resistance) "to stop the machine". In 1866, four years after Thoreau's death, the essay was reprinted in a collection of Thoreau's work ( Civil Disobedience. Today, the essay also appears under the title On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, perhaps to contrast it with Of the Duty of Civil Obedience to which Thoreau was in part responding. For instance, the 1960 Walden included a version with this title. On Civil Disobedience is another common title. The word civil has several definitions. The one that is intended in this case is "relating to citizens and their interrelations with one another or with the state", and so civil in this case means "observing accepted social forms; polite" which would make civil disobedience something like polite, orderly disobedience. Although this is an acceptable dictionary definition of the word civil, it is not what is intended here. This misinterpretation is one reason the essay is sometimes considered to be an argument for pacifism or for exclusively nonviolent resistance. For instance, Background [ ] The Civil Disobedience in 1848, just months after leaving Walden Pond. The speech dealt with slavery and ...

Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn WhatsApp While Thomas Aquinas firmly believed that citizens should obey those in authority, he justifies civil disobedience under two circumstances; civilians can disobey during the reign of a tyrant or when the government enforces unjust laws. Disobeying a tyrant can be justified because the argument can be proven as both valid and sound. The argument is as follows: (a) civil disobedience is justified if a tyrant is unjust; (b) the tyrant is unjust; (c) therefore, civil disobedience is justified. The justification for disobeying unjust laws can also be proven as both valid and sound: (a) civil disobedience is justified if the law is unjust; (b) the law is unjust; (c) therefore, civil disobedience is justified. The overarching theme for both arguments’ centres around the common good of the state. Since that is the case, it is important to prove how the two exceptions benefit the common good of the people to successfully defend this case. When reading books written by Thomas Aquinas, seven key terms make a regular appearance: divine law, natural law, common good, just and unjust laws, civil disobedience, and tyrant. Divine law is a law that is created by a superior, divine being that is authoritative and obstinate. It transcends history and time, and humans are exposed to it through religious writings (Floyd, n.d., par 13). Aquinas believes that God, a spirit who is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient, created the divine law. ...