protest?

A common example of opposition to government is the protest. Protest can be an effective media event. At the same time, it is probably the most common act of civil disobedience if city law is being violated by the event. Protests, many times, become simply ad hominem (name calling rather than stating your case in a principled, reasonable fashion) events. Many protests are rather arbitrary.

Take the most recent anti-war protests concerning Iraq. One of the main issues of protest was no “UN OK” for going into Iraq. Yet, I don’t recall massive demonstrations when we went into Bosnia without UN support.

Should Christians be involved in protest? It depends. Does it support arbitrary thinking? Are we using logical fallacies and spin to lift up our cause? Then we aren’t “loving the Lord with all our mind.”

Are any laws being violated? Then we need to be willing to suffer the consequences. There may be times when a Christian would stand up and be counted at a protest (think recent protests against the Syrian occupation in Lebanon), but it would have to be done in a truthful, respectful, and reasonable fashion. In many cases, there are probably other ways for a Christian to spend their time being an influence that would be more effective.