schizophrenic conservative christians

"One day in a sunday school class on church history, we learned about Christians who lived in the Roman Empire in the first few centuries A.D. Many of them were so convinced of the evils of Caesar's kingdom that their consciences forbid them from serving in his army. They endured great persecution as a result and are viewed as great heroes of the faith because of that. I went away in awe of these godly saints. Then it struck me. How come refusal to serve in the Roman army was so praiseworthy but refusal to serve in the US military in, say, Vietnam could be viewed as the exact opposite; a treasonous sin worthy of harsh criminal punishment? Why would the evil, over-regulating, bureaucratic, object of worship known as Caesar hold the opposite relationship to Christians as the evil, over-regulating, bureaucratic, object of worship known as Uncle Sam? Why do we cheer for the underground church in China and encourage them in not registering their church with the government yet require American churches to register with the government as non-profit 501(c)(3) corporations to 'keep things above the table'? There's something terribly wrong with this picture. Something very schizophrenic."

-Steve Scott