I don’t know how Tony’s being arrested struck you, but it reminded me that sometimes the most admirable place for a Christian to be is in jail (I’m leaving aside any discussion of welfare. Everyone knows it needs to be reformed. We just don’t agree on the best way to do it). Paul wrote a good portion of the Bible while in prison. Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others went to jail during the civil rights movement because they would not observe unjust laws.
I am reminded too of the story of when Henry David Thoreau went to jail rather than pay his poll tax to a state that supported slavery. He was visited by his good friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson peered through the bars and exclaimed, "Why, Henry, what are you doing in there?"
The uncowed Thoreau replied, "Nay, Ralph, the question is, what are you doing out there?"
©1996 C. David Hess