Lisa Bender, the president of the Minneapolis City Council, dreams of a postmodern socialist utopia and believes that we should all aspire to a world without law enforcement. On June 8, she told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that calling the police when your home is broken into “comes from a place of privilege.” She argues that she wants a “police-free society.”
Cuomo told her, “When you say you see someday being police-free that sounds aspirational, a utopian concept where nobody’s committing any crime.”
Yes, Bender bubbled, “I think the idea of having a police-free future is very aspirational, and I am willing to stand with community members who are asking us to think of that as the goal.”
Some advocates are even more assertive. Take, for instance, anti-criminalization activist Mariame Kaba. On June 12, the New York Times published an op-ed piece by Kaba in which she clarified, “Yes, we mean literally abolish the police.” In her mind, police departments and the officers they employ do not just exacerbate a problem. They are the problem. “Fewer police officers equals fewer opportunities for them to brutalize and kill people,” she declares.
To be fair, not all calls to defund the police are driven by a socialist utopian agenda. Many advocate for some improvement or replacement, rather than a dissolution of all law enforcement, and many rightly call for better training, expanded options, and, thankfully, for better pay for those who enforce the law.
It’s wise to reevaluate methods and training, as well as to weed out racism or discrimination in police methods. And it’s a good time to do it.
But, even so, many who want to defund the police assume that the absence of police will make society better, not worse. Where does such a fluffy utopian vision come from?
It’s not just anti-police rhetoric. It’s a postmodern worldview that has been cultivated for the past three generations in American public universities, fostered in culture, and promoted in the media. The postmodern myth of a socialist utopia has as its foundation the view that truth is not an absolute, external fact, that good and bad is a personal preference, and that people are inherently good.
But the call to disband police departments violates key biblical principles about humanity and culture. See, you can dissolve police departments if you like, but one irrefutable fact still remains. Human nature. Real evil exists, people are sinners, and sinners are prone to sin. And because we are prone to sin, we need laws and we need qualified and trained people to enforce those laws.
This mythological utopian society without law enforcement ignores three biblical facts which are foundational to thriving cultures and healthy lives:
- People are not inherently good.
Nowhere does the Bible teach that people are inherently good. Quite the opposite. The Bible describes the reason we are not inherently good and what God does about it (Gen. 3:1-24, John 3:16). The Bible consistently reminds us that people are sinners (Rom. 3:9).
So why is it that most of us know right from wrong, and, in turn, choose to do what is right, good, or just?
Even denying the truth doesn’t make the truth go away. We have a moral conscience that allows us to know right from wrong, to agree on those truths, and to practice the good if we choose to do so (Is. 30:21, Rom. 2:15). And most people do. That’s why laws work for people who choose to follow the law. It shows that we were created by a Moral Lawgiver, a Creator who wove into our ethical DNA a universal understanding of right and wrong.
But not everyone does what is right. Some of us habitually do what is wrong, and on any given day, even the best of us are prone to do the wrong thing. Perhaps even commit a crime. This is evidence that we have sinned against our Creator. While we know the right thing to do, we frequently choose what is morally wrong (Rom. 7:19).
For this reason, we need accountability and perimeters. Law enforcement serves humanity in that capacity. We need the deterrent that laws provide and which law enforcement personnel enforce. Law and order go together (Ex. 20:1-17).
But, notice, when we admit that all people are sinners, we include police officers. Putting on a uniform doesn’t make a person immune to mistakes or impervious to pride, anger, or even violence. Like anyone else, police officers should be held accountable for their actions. And yet, none among us would want to be packaged together with those in our profession who sin and violate the values of the profession. I know I don’t. Sometimes pastors sin and disqualify themselves from ministry. That certainly doesn’t mean all pastors are corrupt, and almost no one would assume that churches don’t need qualified and capable pastors just because a few have been disqualified by their sin.
Instead, we believe the good ones can still do their jobs. That’s the point. We need the good ones to provide accountability and order, and to enforce consequences (1 Tim. 1:8-9).
- People need law enforcement to facilitate freedom.
Utopian socialists confuse freedom with independence. “Independence” is life without boundaries. And unchecked, independence fosters anarchy. But “freedom” is the ability to live within the boundaries that keep us safe, thriving in our creativity and living healthy lives. Freedom recognizes that the boundaries work in our favor. Now free, we can truly live, make choices, and celebrate or suffer the consequences of those choices (Gal. 5:1).
Truth and freedom are intertwined. Human beings lost their freedom when they believed a lie and became captive to sin and death by rebelling against their dependence on their Creator (Gen. 3:4). So now when we accept the truth, we are once again dependent on Him, and we are set free again to truly live (John 8:32).
Freedom in culture mirrors this fact of human nature. To live and thrive and grow, that is, to be free, we must rely on governments and authorities to provide the environment for that freedom and the boundaries that keep us safe (Rom. 13:1-7). Because apart from that protection, we might be independent, but we are not free.
- People need consequences to motivate proper behavior.
One primary purpose of law enforcement is to deter crime. So why doesn’t that work as well as it used to? Because, again, the last three generations have been taught that absolutes do not exist. And respect for authority is the product of a belief in absolute truth (Rom. 13:1, Acts 5:29).
But that doesn’t change human nature. We still respond to consequences, and we must learn that our actions will have consequences. That’s basic. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they experienced the consequences (Gen. 3:8-19).
But remember–the purpose of negative consequences is to redirect us to what is good and right, to pursue beneficial consequences (Rom. 2:4). Followers of Christ learn to submit to God’s will for that purpose, because a healthy relationship with Christ is the consequence of living in His will and following His Word (John 14:15, Luke 11:28).
Civil authorities are charged to mirror this relationship with the people they govern (Rom. 13:1-7). How can they do that without law enforcement?
All of this points to one unyielding conclusion. Human beings are sinners in need of a Savior. In principle, all laws remind us of our depravity and our need to be transformed through the work of our Creator and the cross of Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:10-13).
In the meantime, we are safer with dependable, trained, and motivated law enforcement personnel serving their shifts and responding to calls. And, by the way, law enforcement mirrors a biblical image that we cannot dismiss. We need people who will rush to our aid, enforce the laws of a free republic, and rescue us from our worst inclinations. Only cops and other first responders so clearly mimic the way God responds to our distress. Why would we want to abandon or dismiss them?
When it comes down to it, until Jesus comes back, we still need law enforcement.