The Declaration of Independence famously opens: “We hold these truths to be selfevident: that all men [the masculine here includes both males and females] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” In other words, all people are equal and have Godgiven rights. So, if all people are equal, how is it that some people have the ability to tell others what to do?
The answer is that all people have equal rights because we are all created in the image and likeness of God. This truth does not mean that no authority is possible. All societies, from families to nations, need authorities in charge. In the United States, our system of government is a republic, in which the people elect representatives to make and carry out laws. Other countries have other forms of government. But transcending all time and place, from where does the authority to rule over others ultimately come? From God. We read in Romans 13:1: “Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God.”
Yet government authority (the quality of exercising power over others and expecting obedience from them) is legitimate only if it works for the common good in moral ways. For example, parents do not have the authority to kill or abuse their children, or to force them to do immoral things. Corrupt and immoral governments do not have legitimate authority. Power exercised without authority is tyranny. All human beings tend to sin, and political philosophers have long observed that increased power tends to increasingly corrupt those who hold it. The truth that authority comes from God does not mean that all public officials will behave justly.
What is justice?
What is justice? And what happens when governments behave in unjust ways? Justice — giving God and neighbor their due — is a cardinal virtue that guides good citizenship as well as good government. Both citizens and leaders must judge well in order for there to be peace. God is perfectly just, and we can see signs of His justice in His law, especially the Ten Commandments.
Since no one in society can do everything at once, and no one has infinite resources, individuals and governments must make choices about which values to spend time and resources on. Therefore, a just society and government must have a just hierarchy of values. The greatest example of this is human life. Life is the most important value. Without the right to life, no other rights are possible. Therefore, protecting human life from conception to natural death must be at the top of any just government’s priorities. Because of the inherent dignity of the human person as made in the image of God, the human person must be at the center of society.
All citizens owe respect and obedience to legitimate authorities. When governments enact unjust laws, however, those laws are not binding on our consciences. In the Beatitudes, Christ teaches us that the meek and the merciful are blessed. Also blessed are those who suffer in the name of what is right and just: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). That persecution for righteousness’ sake sometimes comes from other citizens, but at other times it comes from the government. From ancient philosophers, to St. Thomas Aquinas, to modern citizens, individuals have regularly had to wrestle with the conflict between what is right and what is legal. Faithful and courageous individuals have chosen to face the consequences of their refusal to obey unjust laws. St. Thomas More, for example, chose to die rather than to act against God’s law. His last words were “I die the good King’s servant, but God’s first.” Our conscience binds us “not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel” (CCC 2242). Another threat to peace and justice is war. Sadly, war between nations, and even within nations, has been a plague on human existence since the beginning of human history. A result of sin, war causes terrible human suffering. Because of the suffering, evil, and injustice that war causes, governments must do everything possible to reasonably avoid war. This does not mean that all war is immoral. Nations do have the right to self-defense. Philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas has guided the Church’s doctrine on just war and the conditions that must all be met for a war to be just.
Much more than just the absence of war or conflict, peace is the stability and security of a just order. True peace comes from Jesus Christ, who reconciled us to the Father. He justifies us (or makes just our relationship with God). At the end of time, Jesus’s kingdom will come in all its fullness, and perfect justice will be restored
