On the Square Today

Joe Carter’s column this week draws attention to recent efforts to stop capital punishment in Arizona on the grounds it “is not in keeping with the gospel of Jesus Christ.” The state’s duty to enforce justice for murderers provides insight into the role of modern governments in dispensing authority from higher sources:

The passage by St. Paul is unambiguous: Governing authorities are instituted by God to carry out God’s wrath on the evildoer. Whether citizens of the State—including we Christians—recognize his Lordship over civil government is inconsequential; the Bible makes it clear that nations and rulers are servants of God.

George Weigel’s column brings to light recent disturbing developments in Spain, where it seems that World Youth Day participants will have their work cut out for them, and will have to resist the Stalinisit approach to religion taken in recent months by their government.

Textbooks were being rewritten to enforce the government’s leftist view of modern Spanish history; students aiming for admission to prestigious universities would be required to give the “correct” answers about such traumas as the Spanish Civil War in order to pass their entrance exams. Street names were being changed to eradicate the memory of the politically disfavored from Spain’s past.