[Vision2020] Christian "Libertarianism"

[Nick Gier]

Dear Visionaries,

One of my Unitarian friends has challenged me to seek common ground with 
Wilson & Co.  I've chosen to do this in my debate with Dale Courtney about 
Christian "libertarianism."

Dale's first and only response to my essay "Libertarianism and 
Christianity" was a brush off: "it's not up to me to do his research for 
him. There has been a ton of material written on Christian Libertarianism. 
I would recommend he go to the library or get on the web and do some Google 
searching." http://right-mind.us/archive/2005/03/02/2103.aspx   My essay is 
at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/libchristian.htm.

Thirty years ago I did do a thorough library search and discovered a strong 
political philosophy that was either agnostic or outright atheist.  I 
subscribed to the national libertarian magazine Reason and found no support 
for Courtnery's Christian libertarianism.  A current google search gives a 
bibliography and is loaded with the thinkers I read 30 years ago and some 
new ones, but still no Christian libertarians. See, for example, 
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/libertarianism/#Bib Just because some 
thinkers call themselves Christian libertarians don't make them 
so.  Courtney has the same response to those who call themselves liberal 
Christians, so he should apply the same logic to himself.

Courtney has promised us that he will follow logic, and the point of my web 
essay is that there is a logical inconsistency between the accepted 
definition of libertarianism and the conservative Christianity that he 
supports.  The existence of a million Christian "libertarians" will not 
overcome the logical gap between the two concepts.  It is just as absurd as 
Courtney saying that he knows a bunch of married bachelors.  Only Goofy 
would go out of the house and check to see if there are any.

On Courtney's "Right Mind" web a Christopher Wittmer chides me for not 
being enlightened at LewRockwell.com.  I read all the posts on religion and 
Christianity there and I did not find anything that supports Courtney's 
position.  All I found were references to traditional libertarians such as 
Hayek, von Mises, etc., the same figures mentioned at the Stanford website 
above.

So here is my offer of middle ground for Courtney.  The following paragraph 
has now been added to my "Libertarianism and Christianity" web essay:

"There are two ways to reconcile the differences between libertarianism and 
Christianity: one can change the definition of liberty, or one can 
reformulate the concept of divine power. Redefining liberty is the only 
option that salvages the conservative Christianity that most Christian 
libertarians support.  When classical conservatives speak of liberty, they 
mean "positive" liberty, a freedom to do what one ought according to a 
strict moral law, rather than a "negative" liberty, a freedom to do what 
one wants within a minimal legal framework.   As I have indicated above, it 
is libertarianism, more any modern political philosophy, that has fully 
embraced negative liberty.  Christian "libertarianism" should acknowledge 
their commitment to positive liberty and always put "scare quotes" around 
"libertarianism" as a required qualification."

I don't think we should be surprised to find that our most articulate 
president believes in positive liberty:

"It is not an accident that freedom of religion is one of the central 
freedoms in our Bill of Rights. It is the first freedom of the human soul: 
the right to speak the words that God places in our mouths. We must stand 
for that freedom in our country. We must speak for that freedom in the
world."--President George W. Bush, in a speech, May 7, 2001

Ronald Reagan's ghost written biography is loaded the same 
contradiction:  in one sentence he has done it all by himself and then in 
another he owes it all to God.  The law of contradiction is not a hard rule 
of reason to follow, but some many just don't seem to care if it makes for 
a good sermon or good politics.

OK, Courtney: no brush offs this time and please honor your God-given reason.

Nick Gier

"The god you worship is the god you deserve."
~~ Joseph Campbell

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