I recently received this synopsis about the relationship between church and state and I thought it to be so relevant and pertinent, that I wanted to pass it on to you. Bonhoeffer was a dissenter to Nazi Germany during WW2 and actually left America to go back to his homeland and contend against this evil regime. He struggled, at times, with concepts of authority and civil disobedience, but ultimately developed a rationale for disobedience to evil civil authority. I will make some remarks as you read the synopsis:

Four Points of Relationship of Church to the State

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

      1. Governments are established by God for the preservation of order within city, state or a nation.   Therefore, the church has no fundamental quarrel with the state being the state in its duty and right to restrain evil even by the use of force

This is an affirmation of Romans 13:1-7, which states that all authority is derived from God and is used by Him for the purposes stated above.

       2. However, the church must  continually ask the state whether its actions are legitimate; that the states actions are based on law and order to restrain evil and not to cause lawlessness and disorder.

The church exercises this mandate by proper appeal and respect. The church is not the state in its authority, but much like Nathan was to David and Samuel was to Saul; we have the prophetic responsibility to question the actions of our government. For example, abortion is not "restraining evil" and promoting order, but rather perpetrating an evil on the unborn. Homosexual legislation that legalizes marriage as a right is a promotion of anarchy clearly defined in the Scriptures as wrong. Socialism, or the government control of private citizens property and business, is clearly against the mandate of Scripture. The government has also abdicated its role of defending its borders, which is another responsibility. These current issues are not just a political issue, but there are Scriptural precepts that are being violated.

      3.   Thirdly, the church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of a state out of divine order.  (Referred particularly to Jews - The Bible says, “Do good to all men.”)

      Again, we are advocates of "life" as the church. The killing of the unborn must stop in our nation.

      4.   Finally, at times it is necessary for the church to take direct action against the state to stop it from perpetrating evil.

      Note:  This is permitted only when the church sees its very existence and freedoms threatened by the state, and when the state ceases to be the state defined by God. America is not God. It must yield and be conformed into the image and mandate God has called every nation to.

      Note: In our nation, we have moved into this arena:  to be a voice of righteousness against the lawlessness and disorder of the state and to begin to take actions as the Holy Spirit directs. This is, of course, non-violent, but none the less important. We are currently seeing more and more of our freedoms eroding away and we have a Scriptural obligation to be a voice that challenges that erosion in the governmental arena. This is not a partisan, political action by the church, but rather a Scriptural mandate given to us by the Lord. Both political parties have been negligent in this regard.

P.S.  This discourse taken from ““Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric Metaxas,  pg. 153.