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Christians & Union Membership: Religious Objectors Opt Out?
The Bible teaches that Christians should not be part of a labor union, for reasons that include those I discussed in my post “Christians and Labor Unions: An Unequal Yoke.”
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What rights does a religious objector to union membership have in the United States? We will look at that question in this post. (Note: I am NOT a lawyer and I am NOT giving you legal advice. If you have a legal question about labor unions, please talk to a lawyer at the National Right to Work Foundation.)
Your Rights Concerning Labor Unions in a Right to Work State
If you live in a Right to Work state, it is very easy for you to avoid being part of a labor union. Big Labor has a very limited ability to attempt to coerce or compel anyone to join it or force you to give it money in Right to Work states. Whether you have a religious objection or you simply do not like unions, perhaps because of Biblical political views favoring freedom and a free market, nobody can force you to either join a union or force you to pay dues or any equivalent in order to work.
I know of someone who was residing in a state that had just passed a right to work law. This person (we will use the generic singular English pronoun “he” without necessarily specifying this person’s gender, and call him “Joe.”) had gotten a government job at a college in a state that had recently passed a Right to Work law. Without Joe’s consent, the labor union took dues out of Joe’s first paycheck. Joe was going to file a religious objection and contacted the National Right to Work Foundation. However, the lawyers at the Right to Work Foundation pointed out to Joe that his state had recently passed a Right to Work law. Consequently, the labor union had no right to compel him, or anyone else at his job, to pay dues. He did not need to file a religious objection at all, but could simply ask for his money back and explain that he did not need to pay the union because of the Right to Work law. Joe followed their advice, and after some time the union refunded him the dues that had illegally been taken from his paycheck without his consent. Not that long afterwards an email was sent to all college employees–many, many people–stating that union dues would no longer be taken automatically from everyone’s paycheck; instead, people had to affirmatively consent to having the dues–which were now voluntary–taken out. Only a minority of Joe’s coworkers (so it seems) voluntarily chose to give the union the money that they had forced everyone to pay before, but until Joe objected, the union had illegally been taking huge amounts of money from every or almost every college employee. Joe’s taking a stand for Biblical, Christian principles likely cost the pro-abortion, pro-sodomy, anti-Biblical authority union millions of dollars as they were no longer able to illegally continue to take money from everyone–something they had been doing for some time in defiance of the new laws in Joe’s state.
Your Rights Concerning Labor Unions in a Non-Right to Work State
Let us say that you live in a state that does not have a Right to Work law. What can you do? Even in such states, secular people cannot be forced to become members of a labor union or to pay full dues–they can only be forced to pay a smaller “agency fee.” What about a Christian with a religious objection? Based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and principles affirmed in the First Amendment and reaffirmed in Janus v. AFSCME, religious objectors, even in states without Right to Work protections, cannot be forced to:
1.) Join labor unions as a condition of employment.
2.) Pay union dues.
3.) Pay an equivalent to union dues to a a charity.
The legal reasoning for these facts is explained in the excellent article by Blaine Hutchinson and Bruce N. Cameron in Baylor Law Review vol. 75.2 (2023): “Jamus’s Solution for Title VII Religious Objectors.” (Again, I am not a lawyer and I am not giving you legal advice.) If your sincerely held religious beliefs prevent you from being able to join or fund a union in good conscience, you cannot be discriminated against any more than you can be discriminated against because of your skin color. “We will not hire you because of your religious beliefs that do not allow you in good conscience to join a labor union and pay it dues” and “We will not hire you because you are black” are equally illegal in all fifty of these United States.
This writer knows of someone who lives in a non-right to work state (we will call this person “John,” and refer to the person as “him,” without necessarily specifying that the person is a man, not a woman.) When John was hired at his new job at a large company, he was given a large amount of paperwork to sign as part of his onboarding. One page of the paperwork said that he was agreeing to join the union and to pay union dues. He told the Human Resources person who was doing the onboarding that he did not consent to join the union, nor to pay union dues, because he had a religious objection. The HR manager told John that he “must” join the union and must complete the union paperwork. He consequently completed the paperwork, but instead of checking the boxes to join the union wrote on the paper that he respectfully declined to join because of his religious objection. That was as far as things went, and John was left alone for a few years; he was not a union member (unlike the vast majority of his coworkers who believed the illegal lie that HR was saying that everyone “must” join the union) and dues were not being deducted from his paychecks.
However, a few years later Human Resources contacted John and said that he needed to complete new paperwork concerning the union. He was told to fill out the form about union dues; it was “mandatory” that he complete the form. He crossed out the “yes” checkbox and wrote “no” on the form next to where it said to join the union, and wrote on the form that he did not consent to join the union and did not authorize dues deductions from his paycheck.
Shortly after this, union dues were deducted from his paycheck, not only without his consent, but against John’s explicit affirmations that he did not want to join or fund the union because of his religious objection. He inquired (in writing) about this, and the union wrote that he must pay dues in order to continue to work at a union site. Human Resources also wrote that he must pay dues. The only alternatives John had were quitting or being fired and then, if someone was interested, he could be re-hired (maybe), lose all his benefits and seniority, and start from scratch at a non-union site. These actions threatening to fire John and telling him that he needed to pay dues to keep his job were illegal.
John reached out to the National Right to Work Foundation and explained his case to lawyers that, for free, help those with religious objections to union membership. (They have other lawyers that provide free legal counsel to those who do not have religious objections.) His Right to Work Foundation lawyers–who had experience in labor law all the way up to going to the Supreme Court–sent an excellent cease-and-desist letter to his employer warning them of their violations of the law. John and some of his fellow Christians also prayed to the Lord of heaven, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, about this situation. John’s Right to Work lawyers filed charges against his employer and the union with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for their illegal actions in seeking to force him to violate his religious beliefs and for deducting dues from his paycheck without his consent.
In answer to the prayers of God’s people and through the secondary agency of the skilled lawyers at the National Right to Work Foundation, John’s employer agreed to: 1.) Not fire him; 2.) Not require him to join the union; 3.) Not compel him to leave the union site for the tiny portion of non-union sites that his employer possesses; 4.) Not compel him to pay dues to the union or an equivalent to a charity. They also agreed to compensate John because of the mental distress he endured as a result of the illegal threats to fire him, as well as paying legal fees to the NRWF. John was also not compelled to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the whole situation. His lawyers told him that it was an excellent outcome. Praise the Lord!
We should thank God for and pray for the continuance of the religious liberties that we have here in the United States (1 TImothy 2:1ff.).
Once again, I am not a lawyer and am not giving you legal advice. If you are in a situation where you have a question about labor law in relation to labor unions and religious objections, you should consult a lawyer instead of believing what some guy says on the Internet who insists he is not a lawyer, is not giving legal advice, and who tells you about testimonies that you are not able to verify. Reading what law journals say on this subject could certainly also be helpful, but that is also no substitute for professional legal counsel.
Do not join a labor union because the Bible teaches that you should not do it. If someone tries to make you, if you are in the United States, you have legal rights, both in Right to Work and in non-Right to Work states. The Apostle Paul used his rights as a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25ff.), and you can utilize your rights as an American citizen to serve the Lord with a pure conscience, seeking to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
Please do not speculate on how the author of this post knows that the testimonials recounted here are accurate. Comments speculating on that question will probably not be published. If they are accidentally published, they will not be answered, but will be deleted.
TDR
The Law Enhances, Does Not Conflict, With Grace
Relationship Between the Law and Grace or Faith
In Galatians, the Apostle Paul argues for salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. He opposes the alternative, adding even one work to grace. Paul provides several arguments in Galatians 3 for the churches of Galatia to combat corruption of a true gospel.
To understand the right relationship of the law to grace and faith, Paul gives a great clue with a question in Galatians 3:21.
Is the law then against the promises of God?
This is a rhetorical question as seen in his answer in verse 21: “God forbid.” The law is not against the promises of God. It does not conflict with the promises of God. In saying the law does not conflict with the promises of God, he says that the law does not conflict with grace and faith.
Just as a reminder, “God forbid” is the strongest negative in the Greek language. “God forbid” in a technical sense is idiomatic. An idiom is “a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase.” The translators decided a literal translation could not convey the original Greek, so they used the idiomatic expression, “God forbid.” In the context of Galatians 3:21, Paul says no way the law conflicts with the promises of God.
The Law Must Not Conflict with Grace and Faith
For someone to take the correct position on the law, it must not conflict with grace and faith. What position will create a conflict? In the second half of verse 21, Paul says that it is the one that makes the law necessary for life or righteousness. The law does not give life. Neither does it make someone righteous. Only grace or faith does that.
Number one, if the law gives life and righteousness, then grace does not. Number two, if grace gives life and righteousness, then the law does not. If the law and grace or faith do not conflict, then one must take choice number two.
Paul gives several other related arguments for grace alone and faith alone. (1) The salvation of Abraham came by grace alone through faith alone 430 years before the Mosaic law came. (2) When the Mosaic law came, it did not replace (“disannul,” verse 17) grace alone through faith alone, but enhanced it. (3) When the seed (Jesus) arrived 1500 years after the Mosaic law in fulfillment of the promises, He superseded the law. Jesus wouldn’t supersede the law if it was necessary for life and righteousness. It wasn’t.
How Does Jesus Supersede the Law?
Superseding is not abolishing or destroying. I like the word as a description. One might use fulfilled or transcended. The law continues enhancing the promises even with the arrival of the seed. How?
Galatians 3:22 says. The law concludes all under sin, so that they will believe in Jesus Christ for life and righteousness. Galatians 3:23 says that faith does not come to someone until the law locks him up. The law still concludes a person under sin. It still locks up a sinner, so that he looks to Jesus Christ as His only possible deliverance, and believes in Him. Christ comes into the prison of sin and redeems the prisoner who believes in Him.
Unconditional and Unilateral Promises
As you’re reading, you might be asking, what are these “promises” of which I write? They are the promises of the seed made by God that would bring blessing to Abraham’s descendants and all the nations of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3, cf. Genesis 3:15). Also, God will impute righteousness to those who believe the promises (Genesis 15:6).
The promises of God of which Paul speaks are unconditional and unilateral. Abraham was asleep (unconscious) when God made that contract, agreement, or covenant with Abraham. Abraham did nothing, no works. This is the point of Galatians that the promises were superior to the law in that they required no mediator. Angels and Moses were mediators of the law. The promises involved only one — God.
When denominations say, “No, you’re involved, people,” they conflict with grace and faith. Now their adherents are required to continue “in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10, cf. Deuteronomy 27-28). They add a mediator to the promises, when there are no mediators for the promises. This brings conflict between the law and grace, to which Paul writes, “God forbid.”
A Right Understanding of the Law
What you hear from me is not a rejection of the law, but a right understanding of it. The law continues. Christ superseded it, but it still enhances the promises of God. The rest of Galatians 3 and into chapter four lays that out. Everyone still needs and should want the moral law of God and the spirit of the ceremonial and judicial laws.
Galatians 3:19 says the law “was added because of transgressions.” John Gill wrote that the law
was over and above added unto [the promises], for the sake of restraining transgressions; which had there been no law, men would not have been accountable for them; and they would have gone into them without fear, and with impunity; but the law was given, to lay a restraint on men, by forbidding such and such things, on pain of death; and also for the detecting, discovering, and making known transgressions, what they are, their nature and consequences; these the law charges men with, sets them before them, in their true light and proper colours; and convicts them of them, stops their mouths, and pronounces them guilty before God.
Saved men, those who received the promises of God, are not under the law. That means they are not under the condemnation of the law. It does not mean they are free to disobey the law. Grace frees us from the condemnation of the law, not the law. Unsaved men still abide under the condemnation of the law. Since the law does not give life and righteousness, they must receive the promises. In other words, they must by grace alone believe alone in Christ alone.
A Hot Thing Today in Evangelical Hermeneutics Is Now To See Social Justice All Over the Minor Prophets
Was God angry with Israel for its lack of social justice? No doubt God was angry with Israel and through His prophets He warned them. The Bible, including the Minor Prophets, doesn’t mention “social justice.” It mentions just “justice.” Those who point out social justice in the Minor Prophets, or “The Prophets” as the Hebrews referred to it, say that God punished Israel for its social injustice. What they most often don’t say is that social justice itself is injustice according to its definition:
Social justice refers to a fair and equitable division of resources, opportunities, and privileges in society. Originally a religious concept, it has come to be conceptualized more loosely as the just organization of social institutions that deliver access to economic benefits.
Many different factors change the economic and social outcome of individuals. Scripture and, therefore, God doesn’t guarantee equality of resources or privileges. God doesn’t ensure equal opportunity. Bringing social justice into the Minor Prophets alters the meaning of justice, reads something corrupt into scripture.
When I say, “justice,” I’m speaking of the Hebrew word mishpot, found 421 times in the Old Testament. Translators translate mishpot both “justice” and “judgment.”
Evangelical social justice warriors use a prophet like Amos, where in 5:7 he says,
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth.
“Righteousness” (tsidaqa) in the second half relates to “judgment” (mishpot) in the first half. A warning occurs later in verse 15:
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
“Establish judgment” (mishpot) and the “LORD God of hosts will be gracious.” Same chapter, verse 25, was a common refrain from civil rights leaders, used according to what became called “liberation theology,” which spiritualizes these Old Testament passages with a form of amillennialism.
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Social justice advocates now use these verses in a wide ranging manner, that is hardly justice. The “judgment,” that is mishpot, is the judgment of God. How does God judge what occurs? Israel doesn’t follow God’s laws, which are His righteousness. Israel falls short of the glory of God.
Micah is another prophet who confronts the same theme as Amos in such verses like 3:9:
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
“Equity” at the very end isn’t a contemporary understanding. The Hebrew word means “straight, right, level, or pleasing,” as in pleasing to God. Israel was making crooked what was straight. That’s injustice.
When some people get away with lawbreaking because they’re rich, that is injustice. It’s not judging like God does. When that occurs, the straight becomes crooked. It’s also allowing people to get away with such activity.
Today the social justice warriors are championed by the rich, who get off the hook for their injustice. They cover for criminal evidence on a laptop of the President’s son. They tear up public property in Seattle and Portland without arrest. Illegals flow across the border. A homeless man urinates on the street without justice. Yet, all of this is “social justice.”
A verse in Micah equal in fame to Amos 5:25 is Micah 6:8:
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
People “do justly” or they don’t. In other words, they characteristically do what pleases God or they don’t. Justice relates to God. Doing justice means no one gets away with unrighteousness, which is what God says it is. If he does break God’s law, he repents. When a boy dresses like a girl or a girl dresses like a boy, that’s not mishpot. Abortion violates mishpot too. I can keep going a long time with such examples of the transgression of God’s law.
Calling the contents of the preaching of the Minor Prophets “social justice” perverts the point and meaning of the Minor Prophets. It sounds like impressive exegesis to a woke audience. It panders to that group. However, it corrupts justice. It makes the straight crooked in contradiction to Micah 3:9. It promotes redistribution of wealth, taking from those who earned it and giving it to those who didn’t, a form of thievery. This corresponds to a now famous statement by President Obama when he ran for reelection in 2012, speaking of small business owners, “You didn’t build it.”
The prophets preach repentance too. Amos 5:4 says, “Seek ye me, and ye shall live.” 5:6, “Seek the LORD, and ye shall live.” 5:9, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion.” 5:14, “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.” The road to justice starts with personal repentance, seeking the LORD and, therefore, His ways.
Perhaps the greatest abuse of justice is idolatry, elevating man’s lust above God. False worship. Rather than loving God, loving your self. None of this is mishpot. This isn’t justice. This isn’t seeking after God.
Improved Evangelistic Bible Study #3 Is Now Available!
I am happy to report that a version of evangelistic Bible study #3, “What Does God Want From Me?” which covers God’s law and the penalty of sin to awaken or convict a lost sinner, is now available in an improved version. It is now nicely in color with good looking pictures and other features that make it more physically appealing than it was previously. Studies #1 and #2 in this “prettified” format are also available. Studies #4-7 are being worked on and, Lord willing, will become available in the not-to-distant future.
Please note as well that video files of the studies being taught are also being made available–#1-5 are currently live, and the videos for #6-7 are in the list of things to get done. We would appreciate prayer for helpers with the video projects.
You can watch Bible studies #1-5 or download the “prettified” studies #1-3, as well as the older versions of #4-7, at the page here:
Foundational Bible Studies
as well as viewing them on YouTube here. Feel free to “like” them, post a comment on the YouTube channel, or share them on social media (if you are on social media, I am not on it) as these things help other people find and watch the studies.
If you wish to personalize these resources by adding your church address to them, you can also do that by accessing MS Word files of the evangelistic Bible studies at the All Content page here.
–TDR
The Circularity and Wholeness of the Beatitudes As a New Covenant Corollary to God’s Law
God is One and His Law Is One. One could say the Old Covenant is One. The New Covenant doesn’t differ than the Old Covenant. It is a corollary to it, so in the same way the Law is circular and whole, the Beatitudes of Jesus are.
The New Covenant assumes that man has broken the Old Covenant. Is he now hopeless? Is God’s purpose for man now permanently ruined? When God went to find Adam and Eve in the Garden, He introduced the New Covenant to them as the only pathway forward.
While Jesus’ ministered on earth, His audience tried to force the Old Covenant into something it could not do without the New Covenant. Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it through the New Covenant. He starts the Sermon on the Mount with the New Covenant enablement of Old Covenant success. Blessing can come as promised in the Old Covenant, but first, poor in spirit.
Just like the first commandment and the tenth commandment mirror each other, the first and the eighth of the Beatitudes do. The first, poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and the eighth, they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The first four and the second four come at the New Covenant from two very important different directions. The first four are the front end of the New Covenant and the second four are the back end of it.
The front end is not works, but grace alone. The back end exposes what the first four were necessary to produce. If someone starts from the back, he is led to the front. If someone starts with the front, he receives the back. If someone is not persecuted for righteousness’ sake, he is not poor in spirit. If someone is poor in spirit, he will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. The truly persecuted are because they are poor in spirit and theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
When someone sees he’s not persecuted, not peacemaking, not pure in heart, and not merciful, he recognizes his poverty of spirit, he mourns over his sin, subjugates his will to God in meekness, and hungers and thirsts after righteousness. The Jewish teachers of Jesus’ day were justifying themselves, unlike the tax collector in Luke 18:13, who didn’t tout his own righteousness, but in poverty of spirit cried out, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. They reasoned that they could justify themselves by ignoring the weightier matters of the law, the ones so heavy, so difficult, that they were impossible to keep. Someone could keep trying to keep them with his heart of stone, but never succeed.
You’re not saved by being merciful, but only those poor in spirit, mourn, meek, and hunger and thirst after righteousness can and will be merciful. Don’t think that you will obtain mercy without being merciful, but don’t think they you’ll be merciful until you take the path through the first four of the beatitudes of Jesus.
To receive the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus His Lord, the Apostle Paul must count all his own law keeping efforts as dung or as loss (Philippians 3). He sees, I’m not merciful, I’m not pure in heart, I’m not peacemaking, and I’m not being persecuted, but I’m a persecutor, so he becomes poor in spirit. He has no confidence in his flesh, so now he rejoices in Christ Jesus. The Old Covenant did its proper job and then the New Covenant did its. You can start at the front or the back, just like with the ten commandments. They are all interrelated, just like God Himself is one.
James said that God gives grace to the humble, those who humbly submit themselves to God. Those who do won’t be praying to consume it upon their own lust and they won’t go presumptiously into a business endeavor, ignoring the good that God wants them to do in His will. In humility they are submitting themselves to the God of grace, who enables them to pray in His will and live in His will.
When you receive the grace to be saved, you are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, righteousness that you hungered and thirsted after, because you knew you were without it. You were poor. The pure in heart see God, but that comforting purity will never come to you without you mourning over the impurity, not just external impurity, but the impurity of conscience that true salvation cleanses. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded. The Apostle Paul was impressive before religious leaders before his conversion, but he knew that was not true before God. The Lord Jesus provided that for him, not righteousness obtained by works, but by the faith of Christ.
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