Young Evangelicals Elise Daniel and Taylor Barkley discussed their belief that Christianity is politically compatible with libertarianism at a Faith and Law presentation at Capitol Hill on Friday, January 6.
Daniel, currently working on Capitol Hill and a co-author with Barkley of the just released book, Called to Freedom: Why You Can Be Christian and Libertarian, began by noting her commitment as a Christian first, a libertarian second. The political program of libertarianism is to protect the life, liberty, and property of citizens, not to construct a new way of life. But libertarianism need not involve moral relativism, she said. One need not embrace selfishness as a virtue to advance a libertarian political program as a Christian.
Daniel considered why libertarians are commonly non-Christian and resist the Christian religion. The first reason is that Christianity is held to discourage rational inquiry. But this is simplistic, she said, and it might be added, ignores the unprovable assumptions anyone needs to be able to think. Daniel quoted Pope John Paul II’s encyclical on faith and reason, “Fides et Ratio,” to say that faith and reason are “the two wings that lift the human spirit.”
Secondly there is the belief that Christians are trying to “force their morality” on the general public. The problem here, it seems to this writer, is that while Christian morality indeed begins with divine revelation, Christians can engage others in discussion and debate about the social consequences of adhering to or rejecting Christian morality.
Additionally, Daniel pointed out, the young “social justice warriors” are advocating for big government, which is an intrusion on the life of many persons who do not accept the value of government intervention in wide areas of life. Their speculations must be open to rational testing as well as the claims of Christians.
The failure of big government to fulfill its promise of building a better world raises the question of why there are not more libertarian Christians. One reason, she said, is that many Christians believe that liberalism is morally bankrupt. Contemporary liberalism certainly involves the exaltation of the ego. Liberty is seen as the most important thing in life. Liberty is certainly the chief end of political life in libertarianism. However, Daniel said that the chief end of life according to Christianity is virtue. Another term that might be used is godliness. The liberty that libertarianism enjoins enables Christians to pursue godliness. The Gospel understanding of human nature is informed by the sequence of “creation, fall, and redemption,” Daniel pointed out. Salvation and charity must be “free and voluntary.” Libertarianism makes it possible to “use our freedom to serve others.”
Taylor Barkley, currently with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the second presenter, was homeschooled as a conservative in southern California. His favorite thinker was Thomas Sowell. Sowell’s opposition to the minimum wage turned out to be a “mind binder” for Barkley – a seemingly beneficent government policy in fact working against the people it is supposed to serve.
In further support of libertarianism, Barkley noted that the kingship of Israel shows the problems with government – some of David’s descendants were virtuous, others evil, and all the monarchs of the seceding northern Israelite kingdom were evil. Sin is permeating humanity, he said, but God is greater than any political authority. Power tends to corrupt. Christians “ought to grieve over the abuse of power.”
Libertarianism is a way to reduce the power of rulers and increase the power of choice for individuals. Christian virtue is the ultimate goal of Christian political activity. Barkley believes that libertarianism gives Christians the right to “render to God the things which are God’s.” In being political libertarians, Christians don’t have to be libertine in morality.
Barkley pointed out the difference between libertarianism as a social philosophy and libertarian politics. He said that “thick libertarianism” means that one is free, but one does not infringe on the “equal freedom of another human being.” As a prescription for social relations, “thick libertarianism” could be seen as in conflict with Christian morality, if adverse judgment against others cannot be expressed in speech and action. “Thin libertarianism” means “don’t bring in the government” to prescribe a way of life. Christians shouldn’t expect non-Christians to be moral. The government should “not enforce personal morality issues.” On the other hand, libertarianism allows people to “live fully into their imago dei.”
Questions entertained by the presenters attempted to find practical implications of libertarianism. A questioner asked if drunk driving laws are compatible with liberatarianism. Barkley said this was acceptable above a certain percentage of blood alcohol. Another inquiry asked if fathers should violate “individual sovereignty” in disciplining minors. Barkley said that the government is not good at policing morality, suggesting that it most properly falls to parents to discipline children in their time of being socialized.
As to whether libertarians should focus on ideological purity, and whether libertarianism is fragmenting, it was pointed out that the very nature of libertarianism gives it an irreducible core, namely, that the government should be the final resort in solving problems, not the first resort. Another issue concerned when to use force in foreign relations. Barkley said that “isolationism” should be the ideal in foreign relations – we should use force only when attacked.
To the question of which Christian theologians have been favorable to libertarianism, it was suggested that early twentieth century Presbyterian John Gresham Machen, who opposed prohibition, and Father Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute are examples of being both orthodox Christians and libertarians. Another questioner referred to the increasingly multi-ethnic society. Has not government intervention helped minorities? It was said in replay that the bottom line question for libertarians is always whether liberties are being infringed.
This is surely the crucial question in the current struggle over liberty of conscience. While libertarianism, as the presenters noted, would not attempt to enforce a Christian doctrine of sin in society, it surely insists that Christians not be required to sin. The guarantee against being required to violate one’s conscience is a crucial point on which true libertarianism agrees with Christianity.
Since the civil law of the Old Testament is not binding for Christians, and since we are bound to keep the moral law, a “Christian libertarianism” or an alliance of Christians and libertarians might be possible. This would involve the legality of personal behavior (principally related to sex, alcohol, and drugs) condemned as sinful or which are suspect in Scripture, while Christians are guaranteed freedom from having to contribute to these activities. But this is not the situation with current interpretation of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) laws, in which people are required to contribute to behaviors Scripture declares to be sinful. Liberty of conscience is thus the sine qua non of any Christian/libertarian alliance.
John Locke, who advanced the “life, liberty and property” political formula in the seventeenth century, also advanced a Biblical basis for religious freedom in citing the law of love in the New Testament and the imperative of avoiding engendering hypocrisy by state requirements that violate conscience. While Christians are free under a doctrine of liberty of conscience, it is a freedom to obey God, recognizing that others are free to order their lives by very different standards. But God requires obedience of all his creatures, and we know that his rule, whether people like it or not, will prevail at the end of time and in eternity.
Comment by Trevor Thomas on January 13, 2017 at 10:27 am
The idea that only Christians (especially conservative Christians) are attempting to “legislate morality” is nonsense. (A common mistake by libertarians. See: What Libertarians (Like John Stossel) Get Wrong) ALL LAW is rooted in morality. The first thing that must be understood here is that someone’s idea of morality–Christian, libertarian, liberal, Muslim, etc.–is going to govern us.
True liberty only exists in a society where God is revered. (See: The Law is Dying because Morality is Dying) Our founding documents made this clear when they Declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Only a culture that operates under the premise that they are to be free because they were created to be free by a God whose wisdom guides good government can enjoy true liberty.
Comment by John McAdams on April 29, 2017 at 12:22 am
If “all law is based on morality,” perhaps the best law is based on minimal notions of morality: protection of life, liberty and property. Once one advocates using government to force virtue, the notions of “virtue” that prevail on the secular left are likely to be imposed.
Comment by Paul Insana on May 12, 2019 at 3:46 pm
If Lesbian pastors and gay congregations are robust in our culture, why split hairs about Libertarianism ?
Comment by AndRebecca on January 14, 2017 at 9:15 pm
Many Christians have fallen for the Libertarian line. One of the reasons is this– since Libertarians are no threat to the Left their ideas are out in public while Christian ideas are quashed. Thomas Sowell and Pamela Geller and others are great at pointing out and protecting some of our rights, but they do nothing for, or may even work against some aspects of Christianity… Ayn Rand was totally against Christianity, and though not an apostate, she had the traditional apostate view of Christians. She loved H.L. Mencken and Nietzsche, two men who wrote anti-Christian books. The Libertarians are also against the Christian family- and spread silliness regarding Christians, such as saying they lack reason. Christians believe judgment, reason, imagination, and memory as part of the ability of any human to think. In other words, reason is only one part of the equation, and if that’s all you’ve got you are not as smart as you think. And Christians invented modern civilization. Christians invented America… Ayn Rand wrote a couple of mediocre books, and her lover Nathaniel Brandon was part of the self-esteem movement which sought to replace Christianity with a love of self . One of the problems young Christians have today is a lack of access to classical books and books written by Christian ministers. They probably do not know of all the books written on capitalism by Christians. Or even the books written by our state and federal governments on how the country was set up for business. All the Christian ministers in the past, such as John Calvin, Spurgeon, and Wm. Perkins wrote on work, vocations, being frugal, and why a Christian needs to take care of money, etc. Great Christians like George Washington actually did things using capitalism, and left it to others to write about. There’s a book “Maxims of Washington,” collected and arranged by J. F. Schroeder which is available to read on the net in PDF form. Be sure to read the long version. Many of the old books are abridged. Sometimes that’s O.K., but sometimes the meaning of them are changed to suit non-Christians. George Washington was a land speculator and surveyor, and while some other Founders went to Europe, he went into the Western territories and around in the colonies… And the real history of the U.S. is about the cooperation of the American people as they pioneered West, and in business, and in science, and in every direction. The Christian pioneers did what they did for their families and neighbors and their fellow church members and their God. They joined clubs and organizations and were the Middle Class and helped each other get ahead for Christian reasons.
Comment by Trutherator on June 8, 2019 at 3:04 pm
Some libertarians are of varying degrees of hostile to Christianity, but there is a growing number of us that realize that human nature is as the word of God says, “evil, desperately wicked, above all things”, so we definitely don’t want such to rule over us. The monopoly of armed force held by governments attracts psychopaths, power-hungry, and narcissists who “win the kingdom by flatteries”.
Like David’s golpista son who sat at the gate flattering those who had come with grievances, & told them he would do them better than David.
Comment by Joseph O'Neill on February 26, 2017 at 1:14 am
No.
Gun-toting racist islamophobic rednecks are not Christians.
Trump style US metroplitan elite squashing the 99% are not Christians.
Pay your taxes to fund a proper socialist health care service America.
That is the Christian thing to do.
Comment by Micheal Wark on January 8, 2020 at 12:26 pm
Spoken like a true PAGANgelical!
Comment by John McAdams on April 29, 2017 at 12:19 am
The simple fact is that if anybody is going to impose their moral views on people in the U.S. today, it’s the secular left. They are already doing so big time. Christians who aren’t libertarians should understand that libertarians are allies when the secular left tries to oppress Christians, which if quite often the case these days.
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Comment by Bruce Considine on July 5, 2020 at 4:55 pm
“The failure of big government to fulfill its promise of building a better world raises the question of why there are not more libertarian Christians.”
No. The first half sentence is an argument stated as fact, in some cases even a lie. Also, building a “better world” is beyond the ability and purview of government.
–Reality is orders of magnitude more complex than this statement and the Bible has already dealt with it. Proverbs (principles of wisdom, wise government, etc…) the Law (commands against bribery and respect of persons.) Scripture shows that man is evil and commands government rulers to protect the poor from the wicked, even slay the wicked.
–Scripture commands that the poor living on the street must stand equal to a Billionaire in the courts. When was the last time you saw a poor homeless person successfully sue a Billionaire for offenses and damage in the USA? If we obeyed scripture this would be unremarkable, commonplace. The occasions when poor people band together and get justice through the court system are so rare as to be legend. But Libertarianism hates governments that are powerful enough to enforce justice on the Rich.
–“Libertarianism is a way to reduce the power of rulers and increase the power of choice for individuals.”
Another falsehood. Libertarianism leads to governments that won’t enforce just laws on the Rich. Libertarianism leads to governments that abolish just laws. Libertarian governments become dependents and sycophants of the Rich who sponsor them into their government offices. In the end, Libertarian rule degenerates into looking the other way when the wicked prey on the weak.