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Let me take an aside to discuss concerns raised by our church friends about separating families. Many of the criticisms raised in recent days are not fair or logical and some are contrary to law. First- illegal entry into the United States is a crime—as it should be. Persons who violate the law of our nation are subject to prosecution. I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order. Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.–Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Poor Jeff Sessions; he just can’t buy a break. All he did was remind people that obeying the law is a good thing, and all of a sudden he is facing a firestorm of criticism about his use of a Bible passage to defend his policy of separating children from their parents at the border. What is even the point of a scripture like Romans 13 if you can’t use it to support the law?

So far, most of the reaction to Sessions has focused on the fact that the Bible also supports things like families and treating children well. Others note that the same scripture that Sessions invoked was also invoked by proponents of slavery and opponents of the American Revolution. This is all true, but it doesn’t quite get to heart of Sessions’ argument. What he actually said was even more insidious than these criticisms would suggest.

Here is the scripture that Sessions reference in his address:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. . . . Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. (Romans 13:1-2, 5 NIV)

Seems straightforward, right? The Apostle Paul really does seem to be saying that people should obey the law. This is a perfectly rational argument. Socrates said much the same thing in Crito, when his friends urged him to escape from prison and avoid the death sentence passed by the Athenian jury. And I agree. Obeying laws is a good thing.

There are exceptions of course. As Martin Luther King wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal.’” True enough, but most governments aren’t Hitler, and most people who break the law aren’t Hungarian freedom fighters. Throughout his life, King scrupulously advocated respect for the law by only disobeying it openly and with the willingness to accept the consequences. Same with Socrates.

So as a matter of legal theory, I do not really object to Sessions’ use of Romans 13 to suggest that “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.” I have said the same thing myself on many occasions. Generally speaking, I think that having laws and enforcing them consistently are good things.

But this question is really not at issue in the current debate. What the Attorney General of the United States said in Ft. Wayne, Indiana yesterday was one of the most terrifying things that an American official has ever said in public, and Americans of all political and religious orientations should be scared to death.

Sessions didn’t invoke Romans 13 against people who were violating the law. He invoked it against people who were criticizing the law–and criticizing him for the way he has chosen to enforce the law. And that is an absolutely horrifying thing for the nation’s top legal official to do.

Look at who Sessions actually addressed his comments to:

Let me take an aside to discuss concerns raised by our church friends about separating families. Many of the criticisms raised in recent days are not fair or logical and some are contrary to law. . . .

Sessions is not talking to people who are breaking the law. He is not talking to people who are advocating breaking the law. He is talking to religious leaders and people of faith who are asking him to change the law. And his is telling them that their criticisms are not only unfair and illogical, but themselves “contrary to law.”

Think about that for a minute: the Attorney General of the United States just told that US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the President of the Methodist Council of Bishops, hundreds of other religious leaders, and millions of people of faith that criticizing him is both contrary to the law and against the teachings of the Bible.

This is not how democracy works, but it is exactly how authoritarian states work. The right to criticize laws and try to change them is perhaps the most basic right that people in a democracy have. Sessions himself, in his pre-Administration days, criticized laws and had plenty of unkind things to say about President Obama. And very few Republicans would interpret the next verses in Romans—”this is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. . . . If you owe taxes, pay taxes”—as God’s commandment not to criticize or try to change the tax code.

Sessions words are part of a growing and disturbing trend in the current administration to cast its critics as enemies—enemies of God, enemies of the state, and enemies of people. This is a very familiar road—one taken by far too many leaders in history and in our lifetimes. It does not lead anywhere that we want to go.