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Dear Visionaries,<br><br>
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."<br><br>
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."
<a href="http://right-mind.us/archive/2005/03/02/2103.aspx" eudora="autourl">http://right-mind.us/archive/2005/03/02/2103.aspx</a>
My essay is at
<a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/libchristian.htm" eudora="autourl">www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/libchristian.htm</a>.<br><br>
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
<i>Reason </i>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,
<a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/libertarianism/#Bib" eudora="autourl">http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/libertarianism/#Bib</a>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
So here is my offer of middle ground for Courtney. The following paragraph has now been added to my "Libertarianism and Christianity" web essay:<br><br>
"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."<br><br>
I don't think we should be surprised to find that our most articulate president believes in positive liberty: <br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#861B1C"><i>“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<br>
world.”--</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#861B1C">President George W. Bush, in a speech, May 7, 2001<br><br>
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.<br><br>
OK, Courtney: no brush offs this time and please honor your God-given reason. <br><br>
Nick Gier<br>
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<font size=2>"The god you worship is the god you deserve."<br>
~~ Joseph Campbell<br><br>
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