Civil Disobedience

Civil disobedience has been around for a long time. In Bible times Christians would disobey laws that would go against their beliefs, such as the law that they couldn’t preach. (Acts 4) Christians still disobey laws in many countries that do not let them practice their faith, some end up in jail or killed.

In the past in this country, Thoreau wrote an essay on Civil disobedience saying that people make the law and have a right to disobey unjust laws, to try and get those laws changed.

Under British rule in India, the British were harshly oppressive and only interested in exploiting products from India for their own use, causing many Indians to become extremely poor. They became so oppressed they were on the verge of violent civil disobedience, when Gandhi appeared to negotiate with the British threw non-violent tactics such as sit-ins and hunger strikes. The people were supportive on Gandhi and were set to become violent if anything happened to him. Things were resolved without violence.

In New York during the 1940’s a non-violent act of civil disobedience occurred among blacks to protest segregation laws. Blacks were not allowed to live in white neighborhoods, had to ride in the back of buses, lived in poverty with poor schools, and were frequently beaten by police.

A few years after this the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King, who used non-violent means such as sit-ins, boycotts, and speeches to obtain equal rights for African-Americans.

Sometimes civil disobedience can become violent as in the case in South Africa during the struggle to end apartied. It started out with passive resistance, but after years of struggling with no change, a violent group was formed and was willing to do anything to get the freedom they desired.

In recent years the issue of abortion has sparked some civil disobedience in an effort to repeal the laws allowing abortion, by using sit-ins, prayer, etc. outside of the clinics. Some within this group feel they have the right to use any means necessary to stop the killing on unborn children by attacking Dr’s who perform abortions or bombing a clinic. They feel that a violent approach is the only way to solve a problem.

Also, when emotions are running high the potential for violence increases.

In Kohlbergs moral stages five & six people begin to understand morals and social good then moral reasoning. Basic human rights become important as well as principles.