Does natural law override silly human laws? So Augustine, Aquinas and King agree that we, as Christians and free people are not required to follow human laws that do not comply with the natural moral law

. One may well ask: &quot;How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?&quot; The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that &quot;an unjust law is no law at all.&quot;
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

That's well and good for the evil that men do, but what about the pointless things that men do. Both in terms of the laws of government  like those dictating the use of butter substitutes in the dairy state and those edicts in our every day lives and offices such as, &quot;all men on yhe second floor must poop in the basement even though there's a bathroom close by&quot;?
Does the natural law, which has a lot to say about man's inherent dignity, override ones moral duties to follow laws and command which are, not wicked or unjust, but just either below ones dignity to follow, not a matter of gracious obedience or self-perfection, or just plain dumb?
I'm not sure about an answer that applies to all of Christianity. but as it happens, the subject of obeying rules we think are dumb came up in Sunday School this very morning.  So, from a Baptist perspective:


  Romans 13:1-2 (KJV) says
  
  1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no
  power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
  2 Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God:
  and they that resist shall receive to themselves judgment.


There is no mention in Scripture of a principle by which we are allowed to ignore authority because we don't understand a rule/law, or because we think it's silly.  The only exception is if the law goes directly against the Law of God.  We would be allowed to disobey an authority that tried to force us to worship idols, for example, or commit adultery, murder, etc.

But we would be completely unjustified in disobeying a law that required us to wear a giant panda bear as a hat in honor of National Panda day, as wearing such a hat is not against the Law of God.  It's silly, but not amoral. 

Dignity, in one sense, is a matter of pride, and therefore selfishness, and is not a justifiable defense. There is no concept of personal dignity being equal to God's law.

The above statement does not include the basic dignity that all human beings are afforded as creations of a loving God.  The dignity I'm referring to is the pride masquerading as dignity. As in "I'm too dignified for that", or "Such silliness is beneath me".  That's completely different than dignity in the sense that we have intrinsic value as human beings - creations of a loving God.  The dignity that we should not be discriminated against or denied entry because some bigot thinks we have less intrinsic value

As a matter of fact, the Bible gives a few very clear examples of where a person is told to do something that seems silly and undignified on God's command.  One such example is in 2 Kings 5 where Naaman is told to go dip himself in the Jordan seven times to be healed of his leprosy.  He's told to go wash in the stinky, dirty, smelly Jordan, and he balks at first because it seems silly, but when he obeys, he is healed.

So, no, there is no justification for disobeying silly rules that we don't understand and think are undignified.

End of official answer

The rest of this may go beyond a doctrinal answer and into "Pastoral Advice", but I think it bears on the original question and puts it in a different light.

There is an importance in following authority as Christians as well, even if we see it as silly.  For the Christian, the foundation of all authority is the fact that all authority is ordained by God, whether we agree with it or not.  

For those of us with children, one of our responsibilities as parents it to teach them to respect, and be subject to authority, whether they like it or not.  If they see us disrespecting and disobeying authority, how are we going to teach them that they must respect and obey it.  

If they see us refusing to obey our boss, for example, how are we supposed to teach them to respect their teachers and future employers?  We'd be hypocrites, and our children see through that pretty quickly.

Likewise, our peers see though our hypocrisy as well, so from the perspective of letting Christ shine through us, we would be bound to honor silly laws in the name of not being a stubmling block for others.