One of the earliest non-New Testament descriptions of Christians by outsiders comes from Pliny the Younger (61-112 AD), a Roman aristocrat-bureaucrat whose famous letter to the Emperor Trajan reveals how the pagan Romans understood what “rendering unto Caesar his due” really meant…
 
As with the modern secular state, the Roman’s didn’t care who or what you worshiped on your own time, as long as you publicly worshiped the emperor as well and didn’t make waves against the state.
 
Therefore, rendering unto Caesar meant that Christians hauled into court had to offer “a prayer of invocation to the gods,” make “an offering of wine and incense” to Trajan’s statue, and then “formally curse Christ.” From the Roman point of view, no big deal. Do this, and live. Then go on your merry way and do whatever you want in private.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From “To the Source” sidebar: “Pliny the Younger, the Roman Persecution of Christians, Birth Control and Infanticide”

Essentially, those early followers of Jesus were confronted with the same choices facing Christians in the U.S. today. Rome sanctioned birth control, abortion (in the form of potions administered to pregnant women) and even infanticide (unwanted babies were simply left outside, “exposed” to the elements, to expire).
 
Today, under Obamacare, believers will be forced to pay for insurance that covers nearly all these practices – the empire hasn’t formally legalized partial-birth abortion yet – and includes sterilization.
 
How would those early Christians have responded to our modern-day Caesar? Would they have capitulated to an HHS mandate that violates their faith? Whose authority would they ultimately honor?
 
For some U.S. business owners, the answers to those questions are clear. Their first allegiance is to God.
 
Last week’s “To the Source” e-letter reported on a federal lawsuit by Hercules Industries, a Colorado heating and air conditioning company. The owners, William Newman and his siblings, honor God’s law above Caesar’s mandate. They’ve suing the Obama administration, claiming that the Free Birth Control Rule violates their legal rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ~

The RFRA was enacted in 1993 to overturn a Supreme Court decision that allowed federal drug laws to supersede Native American religious ceremonies which include the use of peyote. Under the law, once the Newmans demonstrate that the regulation forces them to violate their Catholic faith, the government has the burden of proving it has a compelling state interest in so doing.
 
… Considering the many contemporary cultural controversies that involve religious belief, if the government prevails, it won’t only be Catholics whose religious liberties are constrained.
 
At least for the moment, religious freedom is winning out. District Court Judge John L. Kane issued a preliminary injunction shielding the Newmans and their company from the rule’s objectionable provisions pending the final disposition of the case.
 
But that should not make civil libertarians sanguine. Because the question is one of “first impression,” Judge Kane declined to decide at this early stage in the case whether a corporation has freedom of religion (as the Supreme Court has ruled they do freedom of political speech), finding instead that the Newmans were sufficiently impacted personally to justify protection pending trial.

 
[Alliance Defending Freedom is assisting the Newmans in this battle. More info on the case HERE.]
 
Yesterday, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., the privately held arts and crafts retail chain also filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration and the HHS mandate ~

“By being required to make a choice between sacrificing our faith or paying millions of dollars in fines, we essentially must choose which poison pill to swallow,” said CEO and founder David Green. “We simply cannot abandon our religious beliefs to comply with this mandate.”

 
As the Blaze reports:

What’s notable about Mr. Green’s decision is that not only is Hobby Lobby now the largest company to sue the Obama administration’s over its HHS mandate, but it’s also the first non-Catholic-owned business to do so.
And Mr. Green certainly runs a Christian-style business.
 
Hobby Lobby stores are never open on Sunday and the chain’s website attributes its continued success to its practice of “honoring the Lord in a manner consistent with biblical principles.”
 
… “It is by God’s grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured,” said Green. “Therefore we seek to honor God by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.”
 
“The conflict for me is that our family is being forced to choose between following the laws of the country that we love or maintaining the religious beliefs that have made our business successful and have supported our family and thousands of our employees and their families,” he added.

An early non-New Testament Christian document known as the Didache, instructed early converts to abandon Roman cultural practices ~

Not only may they not continue to worship the emperor or the imperial gods, but they were commanded: “You shall not administer potions” (the Greek pharmakon can mean any medicine, but in the context refers to potions used for evil purposes, including those meant either to prevent or end pregnancy), “You shall not slaughter a child in abortion,” and You shall not slay infants.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From “To the Source” sidebar: “Pliny the Younger, the Roman Persecution of Christians, Birth Control and Infanticide”

Thank God for both the 1st century believers, and their present-day counterparts, courageous Christians who stand up to Caesar, rendering primary allegiance unto a Higher Authority.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related:
The First Freedom ~ …freedom of religion is being reduced to freedom of worship before our very eyes.
More Than 100 Cities Will Rally Against Obama HHS Mandate ~ Another countrywide Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally – October 20th. Join in!