Reason discovers a connection between Christianity and libertarianism:
The Christians coming down on the small-government side of these arguments are fiscal conservatives but seldom consistent anti-statists. They are also at a disadvantage without a theological tradition robust enough to compete with the Social Gospel on the left or Christian Reconstructionism on the extreme right. Olree’s book is an early step toward furnishing one, exposing evangelicals to the arguments of a nascent Christian libertarian movement.
Libertarianism is extremely and fundamentally Biblical. The entire foundation of Christian theology is the concept of a Creator God who has the power to act as an autocrat, but elects not to due to His respect for the liberty of His creations.
Because God refuses to dictate right behavior through force, Christians are morally bound to do likewise except in the specific situations where God has commanded otherwise. Being freed from the Law by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Christians are not bound to stone adulterers and other sinners, but rather to present them with the Good News. Because the wages of sin are death, those who reject it and prefer their sin will be punished in good time without the interference of the Christian.
Conventional conservative Christianity is a trap. It seems to make sense, but it is an inherently worldly view which contradicts the Bible in much the same way that liberal utopianism does, by attempting to create Heaven on Earth through Man’s efforts. This is, I think, precisely why Jesus Christ spoke so disparagingly of good intentions and their ultimate destination.
Jesus Christ promised to set Man free, not to give him a life in the suburbs with good public schools, reasonable taxes and low crime rates defended by a powerful military. Any political ideology which focuses on the material world at the expense of human liberty is not only not Christian, it is likely to eventually transform into something altogether anti-Christian.
Well, at least there’s one idea for my next non-fiction book: Freedom in Church and State.