I will be interested in reading "Faith and Nation", and finding
out more about the "Evangelical Alliance" that produced it.

One of my faults or weaknesses is that, while I recognise that
God is sovereign, and mandates human governments, laws, punishments
etc, I don't always know where the mandate ends, or if it ends at
all. I.e. would Idi Amin or Pol Pot, or Saddam. have been seen as 
"legitimate" by God, or would they have overstepped the mark, and
would it be legitimate for Christians to resist them?

If Sharia Law, or Noahide Law, were introduced into countries like
Britain, Oz, USA etc, would it be legitimate for Christians to
oppose it? Under no circumstances? Under some circumstances, such
as when non-Muslims were being beheaded for not wearing veils etc?

I guess the question for me is as stated in the article: 

> The church is urged to come to a consensus that "at some point there 
> is not only the right but the duty to disobey the state".

In normal circumstances, I believe we are to be subject to the higher
powers of Government, but are there limits?

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Christians ask if force is needed to protect their religious values

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:13am GMT 05/11/2006

A leading church group which represents more than a million Christians
has raised the prospect of civil unrest and even "violent revolution"
to protect religious freedoms.

In a startling warning to the Government, senior church and political
figures have backed a report advocating force to protest against
policies that are "unbiblical" and "inimical to the
Christian faith".

The menacing language of the report, which Lord Mawhinney, the Tory
peer, Andy Reed, the Labour MP, and the Rt Rev Peter Forster, the
Bishop of Chester, helped to produce, echoes comments made by Muslim
fanatics.

Only days ago, Islamic activist Anjem Choudary said Muslims had become
radicalised because they were "a community under siege".

The report from the Evangelical Alliance says "violent revolution"
should be regarded as a viable response if government legislation
encroaches further on basic religious rights. The church is urged to
come to a consensus that "at some point there is not only the right
but the duty to disobey the state".

The report, entitled "Faith and Nation", comes amid growing concern
that people are being prevented from expressing their faith, including
BA's recent decision that an employee could not wear a crucifix.

[...]

Full article, worth reading, at "Telegraph" - UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nrelig05.xml

Cheers, Steve..

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