Selling Libertarianism to Christians

A shocking statistic: the worldwide death rate stands at 100%! Barring divine intervention or scientists discovering a loophole in the second law of thermodynamics, we can expect this depressing trend to continue.

The trend has political impact. Rational self-interest dictates that humans invest in the afterlife. Pascal proved it: even if the afterlife options are uncertain, the wise investor multiplies the probability of return times the amount. Suppose you believe with 99.999% certainty that the Bible is mere superstition; it still pays to heed it. 0.0000001 times infinity is worth more than any tax cut that libertarians can offer in this life. Ayn Rand had either more faith or less rationality than Jerry Falwell. In other words, “Go to hell; vote Libertarian,” is a losing campaign theme, and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

True, Europe seems to losing its interest in religion. Government child-raising, gun control and cuddly welfare benefits can make people forget their mortality for a time. But take away welfare and strap a sidearm on most pedestrians, and you remind the people that our stay here is a temporary one. Liberty and religion go together.

History seems to indicate otherwise. From Augustine to the Reformation the Church squelched dissent, and from Constantine to the Enlightenment the Church relied on the might of the state to enforce religious dictates. Ayn Rand can be forgiven for seeing religion as the enemy of liberty. And to this day many Christians are hostile to liberty. But libertarians should beware of conflating libertarianism with atheism. The modern history of atheist government is none too promising: the French Revolution and assorted People’s Republics make the Moral Majority look downright libertarian.

Libertarians have a much better weapon against authoritarian Christians: the Bible. This may seem odd given Church history, but bear with me. The history of Christianity is largely a history of limited access to the Bible. And with authoritarian habits inherited from earlier cultures and attempts to enforce orthodoxy, even those who did have access to the Bible were not allowed to fully explore its implications. With the advent of the printing press, long suppressed Biblical truths surfaced. The Reformation and the Enlightenment followed.

The United States of America was a very Christian nation when it adopted freedom of religion into its Constitution. This is no coincidence. Freedom of religion is an essential part of the New Testament message – a rather inconvenient truth for powerful priests. The New Testament repeatedly states that not all are called to be Christians. John Calvin embraced these scriptures; democracy and eventually freedom of religion followed. (It took a while to drop some bad human traditions.) This is not to say I endorse Calvin’s theories of a priori damnation. Far from it! Such notions defy justice and mercy both. Is it any wonder that many justice loving libertarians and gentle liberals leave the faith in disgust? Perhaps you are one yourself. If so, do reconsider. From what I understand of them Calvin’s notions still differ from what the Bible actually says. The Bible says who are Called are given faith and responsibility. Unbelievers will be judged by lighter standards. (Traditional notions ofof heaven and hell are both at odds with the Biblical account as well.) See my online book A Narrow Path for an in depth study of the matter. It is long, but brief hand-waving arguments suffice not for such an important subject.

Alas, many merciful Christians are content to resort to hand-waving arguments or even downplaying the Bible. The politically liberal are often theologically liberal as well. Back when I was an Episcopalian I sat through many a sermon where the priest would preach against (or at least downplay) the day’s scripture reading. Whereas a liberal approach to Bible interpretation can make it easy to overlook harsh scriptures and grant people permission to do acts forbidden by the Bible, it also grants permission to add to the Law, and many Christians (liberal and conservative both) do just that. Liberals, in particular, add welfare mandates, calls to invoke the might of the state to help the destitute. (See Sojourner’s Magazine for examples.) And to a degree they have a point. Jesus aimed most of his wrath at the unmerciful. Back when I was a pure libertarian many New Testament passages disturbed me. I was fighting on the side that wanted to do away with government welfare, and Jesus condemned those who were insensitive to the plight of the poor to a fiery end on Judgment Day.

I gain some solace realizing that government subsidizes the rich at least as much as it attempts to help the poor. Several of the red labeled books on this site expand on this very important subject. But perhaps this is not enough. The Old Testament Law included a rather extensive welfare system. “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not covet” were given in the context of this system. Today I am no longer a pure libertarian, as I would soften the pure libertarian ideal with some safety net, based heavily onon God’s Welfare System. Even if you remain a pure libertarian, it behooves you to direct your liberal Christian friends to this book. You will never convince them to drop welfare in order to please the ghosts of Rothbard or Rand, but you might convince them to model the welfare system to be more like that found in the Bible. The ancient system was compatible with a near complete lack of government as we know it. Israel during the time of the Judges was as close to anarcho-capitalism as you will find in history for any civilized nation not surrounded by water.

Speaking of the Old Testament Law, Jesus said it was still in effect; his critiques of Pharisee legalism referred to the oral traditions, which are found in the Talmud, not the Bible. Whether that Law is binding upon non-Israelites living outside the Holy Land is an interesting theological question. Were Hebrews prohibited from eating pork because the Holy Land is dry country or because humans shouldn’t eat pork, period? The Bible is ambiguous on the subject.

But here is the politically interesting bit: even if we were to declare all Christian controlled lands holy and enforce the Law therein, pork would be more illegal than marijuana. Indeed marijuana would be legal, sincesince adding to the Law is illegal. (And if we take a more liberal view of the New Testament mandate, we shouldn’t be adding to the enforced law either, since Jesus called for mercy. Indeed, forgiveness of Christians is contingent on Christians being merciful!) The Drug War violates both the Old and New Testaments as did Prohibition. Yes, the Bible condemns drunkenness in places, but wine is frequently celebrated elsewhere. Wine is one of the mandatory Old Testament sacrifices and Israelites were enjoined to enjoy some wine while rejoicing before the Lord. Where the Bible condemns drunkenness, it is usually in the same sentence as gluttony. Have fun quoting the relevant scriptures to your favorite overweight drug warrior.

You can also have fun discussing the Old Testament Law on prostitution. It was legal under some circumstances. The Bible made little distinction between selling sex and giving away sex. A short term romance leading to intercourse was just as much harlotry as selling tricks on the street. Pick up bars are just as wicked as strip bars. But they were legal back in the days when kindling a fire on Saturday was a death penalty offense. (And as a practical political matter, legal prostitution is the most popular libertarian political position position according to my polling statistics.)

But do note that those death penalty offenses required two witnesses to enforce. And if you falsely accused someone of a death penalty offense, you were subject to the death penalty. Now that’s innocent until proven guilty with a vengeance! As conservative Christians rightly point out many of our libertarian traditions do come from the Bible: trial by jury, common law, rights to self-defense, judge the crime not the criminal and more can be found in the Old Testament Law. If only conservatives would embrace the rest of the libertarian aspects of Old Testament Law we would have a more free society. See my online book The Law of Liberty for details.

See all the blue-labeled “books” on this site if you want a complete Christian case for an almost libertarian society. I admit it is heavy reading. But it was heavier writing; it took me several grueling years and I am still making updates. Economics is ever so much easier and exegesis! If you are a Christian, odds are good that you will learn some things you won’t hear in church, regardless of the denomination you attend. If you are not, perhaps you will reconsider based on the evidence I present. On the other hand, if you find scripture reading to be truly repellent, simply skim and note the pages. Send the relevant links to your non-libertarian Christian friends and let me deal with my fellow Christians. I humbly suggest that this will avail you more than trying to get people to sacrifice hope for a hereafter in order to comply with your favorite philosopher.