A. No, if the money is not intended for some special object, just in itself, where the aim and means are good.
Q. May he pay taxes to such a government?
A. No; he must not voluntarily pay the taxes, but he must also not resist their collection. The taxes imposed by the government are collected independently of the will of the subjects. It is impossible to resist the collection, without having recourse to violence; but a Christian must not use violence, and so he must give up his property to the violence which is exerted by the powers.
Q. May a Christian vote at elections and take part in a court or in the government?
A. No; the participation in elections, in the court, or in the government, is a participation in governmental violence.
Q. In what does the chief significance of the doctrine of non-resistance consist?
A. In that it alone makes it possible to tear the evil out by the root, both out of one's own heart and out of the neighbour's heart. This doctrine forbids doing that by which evil is perpetuated and multiplied. He who attacks another and insults him, engenders in another the sentiment of hatred, the root of all evil. To offend another, because he offended us, for the specious reason of removing an evil, means to repeat an evil deed, both against him and against ourselves,—to beget, or at least to free, to encourage, the very demon whom we claim we wish to expel. Satan cannot be driven out by Satan, untruth cannot be cleansed by untruth, and evil cannot be vanquished by evil.
True non-resistance is the one true resistance to evil. It kills and finally destroys the evil sentiment.
Q. But, if the idea of the doctrine is right, is it practicable?