United Liberty
Are Christianity and Libertarianism Mutually Exclusive?
Thu, 05/24/2012 - 2:02pm | posted by Ron Davis
Lately I’ve been wrestling over the intersection of two groups of people to which I belong: Christians and libertarians. On fiscal policy, there’s a lot of agreement between the two groups (on the surface, at least), but the great divide usually comes on the social issues.
On the social issues, Christians typically want government to enforce what is right (i.e. legislate morality), while the libertarians don’t want to be the coerced recipient of anyone’s morality, whether it’s good for them or not. As a member of both of these groups, I understand each viewpoint.
If the Christians’ goal were just to worship God freely, to share Him with those who will listen, and to set an example for others in the life they live, they could easily get along with libertarians. And if they really just want to be free to worship how they choose, they could even be libertarians.
The problem comes when the scope of Christians’ efforts expands to impede the freedom of others. I think everyone should be in church on Sunday, but it would be wrong for me to force people to spend their Sundays as I choose to spend mine. The same logic applies to every socially conservative issue Christians champion.
There are Christians – good, well-intentioned people, I might add – who support political issues that they agree with personally. For example, they’d never vote for a tax increase unless it was a “sin tax” issue. They’d support bans on things ranging from foul language to homosexuality because it’s part of their personal moral code.
I’m reminded of the people I’ve seen on street corners screaming at people telling them they should give their lives to God. While it would be great to see those people turn to God, I’ve never found screaming at people to be a very effective means of communication.
Legislating morality is much like screaming at people on the street, except with a gun pointed at them. Convincing is much more effective than coercion, but how exactly would that work? It’s pretty straightforward, really:
Be an Example. Let people see how you’re different because of what you believe. “In the same way [as a city on a hill or a lamp on a lamp stand], let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Stand by What You Believe. Be consistent; don’t compromise. Even when people disagree with you, they’ll respect the fact that you are consistent in what you do and say. “Be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13)
Love. Just love people and treat them how Jesus would treat them. “[Jesus] said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39)
Of course, none of this means we have to endorse behavior we find objectionable. We don’t have to violate our conscience at all; in fact, we shouldn’t. We just have to set an example, stand on what we believe, love people like Jesus would love them, and treat people like He would treat them.
So what’s the answer? Are Christianity and libertarianism mutually exclusive? Because of the way many Christians choose to behave, yes, sometimes the two can be mutually exclusive.
But they shouldn’t be.
You’ve come close to the thinking that got us the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations… See, Roger Williams objected to the union of church and state and moved for the separation between the two, not because he didn’t think government should be forcing people to attend church, but instead for the reason that he didn’t want the state sullying his religious worship by forcing unbelievers and non-believers to attend.
Ron:
As a Libertarian who happens to be an atheist, I want to commend you on this great post. What you expressed here is EXACTLY the point I try to get across to my Christian family and friends who are more inclined to support someone like Rick Santorum than Ron Paul (who happens to be a Christian also). I have so much more respect for people who don’t tell me how to live but demonstrate how they believe life should be lived by living according to their beliefs (which isn’t always easy for any of us). As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Gandhi may not have been a Christian but I think this is something that the non-religious and religious alike can agree on without compromising the values of either. Anyone who introduces force into the equation to “win” the argument has already lost.
As a Christian and recent Ron Paul supporter, I’ve been grappling with the same issues and have come to the same conclusions. Thanks for a well written article!
I understand the logic. It just seems that the only way libertarian ideology could work is if society trended toward good instead of evil when unregulated (in my opinion this has zero likelihood)… or rapidly continued toward evil until a certain threshold of evil was obtained (presumably at a great cost/loss) and then began rebuilding toward good. Either that, or libertarian ideology would need to be very slowly drip-fed into society (and society weaned off of large government) which would allow for “natural” free-market restraints and regulations to take root in an increasing manner over time so that evil could not flood it out in its infant stages.
Thoughts?
…or, it just struck me, another way would be for a critical mass of like-minded libertarian populace to move to an available land (if such a place still exists) and begin a fresh sovereign society of their own.
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