If Romans 13 means total obedience to empire, the rest of scripture is meaningless

This essay started out as a response to a pastor I sometimes communicate with about faith and politics, during an exchange in which the pastor cited Romans 13 as a reason Christians shouldn’t participate in anti-ICE protests. I added citations to my most recent email to the pastor because I believe it’s an important issue worth publicly discussing further.

Here is what I think I hear you saying — Romans 13¹ is a command for Christians to never oppose any government authority, is that correct?

I’m going to start off with an assumption that I’m reading you correctly and try to point out some of the scriptural and historical inconsistencies of that position.

If I’m wrong or you concede that the logical progression I map out goes too far, I will also address it from the other side: the Christian case for opposing government injustice.