5 Reasons Christianity and Libertarianism are Compatible, Young Evangelicals Say

[Chris]

We recently discussed charity vs welfare in some thread. Here are some comments on that in 5 Reasons Christianity and Libertarianism are Compatible, Young Evangelicals Say:

Young Evangelicals argued that Christianity and libertarianism are compatible, and some even claimed that Christians should advocate for libertarian causes.

"Christians actually ought to feel outraged that the redemptive power of charity has been taken from us and given to an unfeeling, coercive state," Leah Stiles Hughey declared at a Saturday panel at The International Students for Liberty Conference. She claimed that when government gets involved in giving to the poor it denies the God-given human dignity of both giver and receiver.

Hughey's husband Jason explained that "the Bible is not a book of political theory." Nevertheless, "there are themes we get from the Bible that give a good foundation for Christians to embrace libertarianism or even anarchy," Jason Hughey said.

The Hugheys and three other panelists provided 5 reasons why they believe Christians can be libertarian in their political beliefs.

1. Christianity Celebrates Voluntary Action, Value Creation

Jacqueline Otto Isaacs, a blogger at Values & Capitalism, explained that the Christian worldview also supports libertarianism. "The message of the Gospel, the good news, is that salvation from our sins is offered through Christ — this salvation is voluntary and individual, and this is the core message of Christianity," Isaacs declared....

2. Big Government Does Not Solve Poverty

Philip Luca, vice president of Social Media at The American Marketing Association, discussed his experience from going [sic] up in Eastern Europe. "We really went all in trying to put our goods in a common pot, and letting the state handle distribution and letting there be no poor among us," Luca explained. "What happened is that all of us became poor."...

3. The Biblical Role of Government

Jason Hughey agreed, citing specific scriptures to argue for a smaller role of government. Hughey pointed to 1 Samuel 8, where the people of Israel asked Samuel for a king. When Samuel went to God, "the Lord was not happy with this – the people of Israel were turning their back on him," Hughey explained. God granted Israel's wish, but warned that their king would conscript their sons, take away their daughters, and tax the people. Hughey ended the reading with the line "and you will be his slaves."...

4. The Welfare State Harms Christian Charity

"Christ's example through scripture gives us a model of what charity should look like and government, by stepping in, harms that model and generates tragic consequences for both the givers and the receivers in that situation," Leah Hughey claimed. She emphasized Jesus' declaration in John 18 that no one takes his life from him, but he offers it of his own accord....

5. Wealth Is Not Inherently Sinful

Leah Hughey also argued that scripture does not proclaim wealth as inherently sinful. She addressed a certain reading of Matthew 19:24 — "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God."...

[midcan5]

That nonsense is so un-Christian it boggles my mind and I ain't religious today.

"Put differently, there are two equal but opposite errors into which Christians have fallen in the modern world. One error is to "privatize" faith, interpreting and applying it to the personal and spiritual realm only. That way faith loses its integrity and becomes "privately engaging and publicly irrelevant." ¶ The other error, represented by the Religious Left in the 1960s and the Religious Right since the late 1970s, is to "politicize" faith, using faith to express essentially political points that have lost touch with biblical truth. That way faith loses its independence, the church becomes "the regime at prayer," Christians become the "useful idiots" or "biddable foot soldiers" for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology in its purest form: Christian beliefs are used as weapons for political interests. In short, out of anxiety about a vanishing culture or in a foolish exchange for an illusory promise of power, Christians are cheated into bartering away their identity, motives, language, passions, and votes.

... Christians have already lost their independence when they attempt to find political solutions for problems that are essentially cultural and prepolitical — in other words, when they ask politics to do what politics cannot do.

When there has been a profound sea change in culture, as the United States has experienced since the 1960s, it is both foolish and futile to think that it can be reversed and restored by politics alone. That approach will always fail, and can only fail. Politics is downstream from the deep and important changes in American culture, and what lies upstream is mostly beyond the reach of political action. Thus overreaching political activism is bound not only to fail, but to leave the cultural changes more deeply entrenched than ever and those fighting them weaker than ever."

Os Guinness 'The Case For Civility"

http://www.amazon.com/Case-Civility-...=books&ie=UTF8




http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...l=1#post380845
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...l=1#post964088
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...l=1#post656808
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...l=1#post518832
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...ll=1#post62368

[Chris]

That nonsense is so un-Christian it boggles my mind and I ain't religious today.

"Put differently, there are two equal but opposite errors into which Christians have fallen in the modern world. One error is to "privatize" faith, interpreting and applying it to the personal and spiritual realm only. That way faith loses its integrity and becomes "privately engaging and publicly irrelevant." ¶ The other error, represented by the Religious Left in the 1960s and the Religious Right since the late 1970s, is to "politicize" faith, using faith to express essentially political points that have lost touch with biblical truth. That way faith loses its independence, the church becomes "the regime at prayer," Christians become the "useful idiots" or "biddable foot soldiers" for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology in its purest form: Christian beliefs are used as weapons for political interests. In short, out of anxiety about a vanishing culture or in a foolish exchange for an illusory promise of power, Christians are cheated into bartering away their identity, motives, language, passions, and votes.

... Christians have already lost their independence when they attempt to find political solutions for problems that are essentially cultural and prepolitical — in other words, when they ask politics to do what politics cannot do.

When there has been a profound sea change in culture, as the United States has experienced since the 1960s, it is both foolish and futile to think that it can be reversed and restored by politics alone. That approach will always fail, and can only fail. Politics is downstream from the deep and important changes in American culture, and what lies upstream is mostly beyond the reach of political action. Thus overreaching political activism is bound not only to fail, but to leave the cultural changes more deeply entrenched than ever and those fighting them weaker than ever."

Os Guinness 'The Case For Civility"

http://www.amazon.com/Case-Civility-...=books&ie=UTF8




http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...l=1#post380845
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...l=1#post964088
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...l=1#post656808
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...l=1#post518832
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...ll=1#post62368

It's the opposite of Christianity, but you can substantiate that so you invent a big long wordy strawman to attack.

A lot that is good has fallen under the yoke of the liberal project.

[Peter1469]

Does anyone read through Midcan's nonsense?

[Chris]

Does anyone read through Midcan's nonsense?

Little of it's his. He reads books he misunderstands.

[Dr. Who]

No surprise that evangelism has been used by so many to fleece poor and ignorant people of their money. Many evangelical churches are less places of religious worship than capitalist enterprises that conflate religion, enterprise, greed and politics. Evangelist churches are as uncontrolled as Islam. It's no small wonder that they are compatible with libertarianism. Anyone who has memorized portions of the bible can set up an evangelical church and use scripture as they see fit. They have no script that they have to follow, don't have to present any credentials or education and are answerable to no one.

[Peter1469]

No surprise that evangelism has been used by so many to fleece poor and ignorant people of their money. Many evangelical churches are less places of religious worship than capitalist enterprises that conflate religion, enterprise, greed and politics. Evangelist churches are as uncontrolled as Islam. It's no small wonder that they are compatible with libertarianism. Anyone who has memorized portions of the bible can set up an evangelical church and use scripture as they see fit. They have no script that they have to follow, don't have to present any credentials or education and are answerable to no one.

Comparing them Islam is a step too far. Some of the fundamentalists may be a scam, but they don't cut people's heads off.

[stjames1_53]

Comparing them Islam is a step too far. Some of the fundamentalists may be a scam, but they don't cut people's heads off.

or toss them off buildings..........

[Chris]

Comparing them Islam is a step too far. Some of the fundamentalists may be a scam, but they don't cut people's heads off.

The left sees religion as evil generally, well, at least Christianity, though it's rare they criticize Islam--just like feminists criticize Western men but ignore Muslim men's treatment of women.

[Chris]

No surprise that evangelism has been used by so many to fleece poor and ignorant people of their money. Many evangelical churches are less places of religious worship than capitalist enterprises that conflate religion, enterprise, greed and politics. Evangelist churches are as uncontrolled as Islam. It's no small wonder that they are compatible with libertarianism. Anyone who has memorized portions of the bible can set up an evangelical church and use scripture as they see fit. They have no script that they have to follow, don't have to present any credentials or education and are answerable to no one.

Great authoritarian criticism of libertarian principles.