Faith, Commerce and Freedom
Daniel T. Griswold on Christian faith and libertarian values,
SHARED BELIEFS...
Let’s examine a few shared beliefs. Both libertarians and Christians believe
• In the dignity and the worth of the individual. Unlike many socialists, we don’t believe that people are faceless cogs in some vast machine.
• In the importance of individual conscience and of standing up to authority when your conscience calls you to do so.
• That freedom must be tempered by personal responsibility.
• That there are objective standards of right and wrong, and that principles transcend the interests of the state and prevailing attitudes of the moment.
• That the state is not the highest authority of our activities—we are governed by laws rather than men.
• That men are fallible and can’t be trusted with unlimited power.
SHARED VALUES
As a Christian, I’ve read the Bible through several times, and I don’t think there’s anything in there that’s a compelling argument for big government or the welfare state. The Bible is not primarily a political document, but it does offer general principles of social behavior that are compatible, and indeed reinforce, the libertarian vision of a free society. Here are a few of those values:
• Property rights: The Bible says, “Thou shall not steal.” Libertarians remind people that it’s wrong to steal, whether the thief is an individual or a group of individuals under
“majority rule.”
• Civil disobedience: When challenged about their faith, Peter and the Apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.”
• Welfare reform: The Apostle Paul said, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: if a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
• Taking care of family: In 1st Timothy, Paul writes that if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. This is a very basic libertarian principle. Your responsibility to your family comes first. Each individual is responsible for that. Libertarians don’t believe it takes a village to raise a child.
• Voluntary support for charity: The Bible talks about a 10 percent tithe to support the temple, which performed many of the functions performed by today’s welfare state. Later, Paul says, “each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
• Peace and property rights: The Old Testament prophet Micah had a vision of men beating their swords into plowshares. Micah also says, “Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.” I think that’s a beautiful picture of a free society with property rights.
SHARED BELIEFS...
Let’s examine a few shared beliefs. Both libertarians and Christians believe
• In the dignity and the worth of the individual. Unlike many socialists, we don’t believe that people are faceless cogs in some vast machine.
• In the importance of individual conscience and of standing up to authority when your conscience calls you to do so.
• That freedom must be tempered by personal responsibility.
• That there are objective standards of right and wrong, and that principles transcend the interests of the state and prevailing attitudes of the moment.
• That the state is not the highest authority of our activities—we are governed by laws rather than men.
• That men are fallible and can’t be trusted with unlimited power.
SHARED VALUES
As a Christian, I’ve read the Bible through several times, and I don’t think there’s anything in there that’s a compelling argument for big government or the welfare state. The Bible is not primarily a political document, but it does offer general principles of social behavior that are compatible, and indeed reinforce, the libertarian vision of a free society. Here are a few of those values:
• Property rights: The Bible says, “Thou shall not steal.” Libertarians remind people that it’s wrong to steal, whether the thief is an individual or a group of individuals under
“majority rule.”
• Civil disobedience: When challenged about their faith, Peter and the Apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.”
• Welfare reform: The Apostle Paul said, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: if a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
• Taking care of family: In 1st Timothy, Paul writes that if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. This is a very basic libertarian principle. Your responsibility to your family comes first. Each individual is responsible for that. Libertarians don’t believe it takes a village to raise a child.
• Voluntary support for charity: The Bible talks about a 10 percent tithe to support the temple, which performed many of the functions performed by today’s welfare state. Later, Paul says, “each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
• Peace and property rights: The Old Testament prophet Micah had a vision of men beating their swords into plowshares. Micah also says, “Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.” I think that’s a beautiful picture of a free society with property rights.
Grace, Love & Peace August Ecklund at 1:51 AM
3 Comments:
Hey August-
Interesting article.
A point or two to add: The prophets of the Older Testament, especially, called down God's judgment on Israel as a whole based on how the poor, widows, orphans, and aliens were treated (find an online Bible and search for those and similar terms). God judged and punished the nation as a whole, not just individuals, for corporate sins committed. That does not mean that God desires us to have a bloated, inefficient welfare state. But, although the Bible lifts up the importance of the individual in a stunning way, it also holds the community responsible for the least among us.
I agree with you. If you remember my opening statement for the blog, I take the Golden Rule very seriously. However, if I am not mistake, the corporate sins you mention occurred mostly during the time of the kings. During which, the king was responsible for the welfare of the people and country. If government is responsible for everyone and everything, then why should any of us lift a finger to help our neighbor? In our own society, how many times do reports highlighting the plight of the poor conclude that the government should do something? How many people feel that by paying their taxes, they do not need to donate time or money to charity because they “gave at the office?” People cannot afford food, housing or healthcare; therefore, the government should step in and help.
A free and libertarian society does not mean a diminished community. Trace US history and see how the decline of local communities and institutions such as the family and church coincided with the growth of federal power. Nature abhors a vacuum, if the State fell apart giving more freedom and liberty to individuals, voluntary associations and institutions would emerge.
For more on this, I recommend reading Vache Folle’s Libertarian Collectives, which is posted on St George Blog. Here is the link:
http://emergencybackupdog.blogspot.com/2005/06/libertarian-collectives.html
Interesting. I am, and will be for a long time, somewhat of a 'political agnostic.' For example, I also see the war on drugs as wrongheaded (can we say long-term quagmire, with no end in sight?), and yet I do not want someone giving meth to my children on the street.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand: read 1 Samuel 8! It is a picture of the transition from the agrarian, tribal constitution of early Israel to a monarchy: "appoint for us a king to govern us, like other nations." The people get their wish, along with the consequences of their wish: big, wasteful, oppressive government.
The point is this: it seems that the pressure to have a king came about because the nations around them were oppressing Israel, and the loose organization of tribes was not effective at defending themselves. There was pressure to centralize and organize to fight off the Philistines - thus monarchy. Of course, IF Israel had fully trusted God as their King, THEN they could have united and fought off the Philistines without a king - but they did not, so they slid into monarchy.
Here is a question or two: could a libertarian US have mobilized to defeat Hitler or win the Cold War? Would it have wanted to? It seems like the US has had similar pressures to centralize power, and that has only increased under GW.
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