Consciences, Covid, and Credibility: A Response to Doug Wilson

As pretty much anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock now knows, John MacArthur and Grace Community Church made a big stir a couple weeks ago by not merely declaring their intention to defy California Covid-19 restrictions, but also by appearing to justify those actions in terms of fundamental claims about the relationship of church and state. In doing so, they risked not merely making a bad call or offering a bad witness, but binding (or burdening; see below) the consciences of other believers to do likewise. After all, if Caesar has no business whatsoever limiting worship, then it follows that, as the statement puts it, “Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands.” Absent clarifying qualifications (which were indeed strikingly absent), it follows that any other churches throughout the country that are complying with state Covid regulations are disobeying Christ. Accordingly, I took up my pen (or keyboard, alas) to unpack the dangers in this flawed political theology, in a lengthy post for The Davenant Institute that struck a chord in many quarters (or rather, several different chords, some melodious and some dissonant).