Thursday, September 17, 2020

Christian Libertarianism

Political libertarianism itself is not contrary to Christian theology, but the ideas of some libertarians are.  Libertarianism is the Biblical approach to government, and yet this does not mean that everything associated with secular libertarianism is a component of Biblical politics.  As such, it is important to clarify what Christian libertarianism specifically entails, given rhat there are so many positive or negative assumptions made about the fundamental nature of political libertarianism.  For example, libertarianism as a basic ideology is sometimes thought to be a framework that justifies a selfish withdrawal away from others in favor of needless personal liberty, but this is neither what secular libertarianism nor Christian libertarianism are about.

Christian libertarianism--that is, libertarian political philosophy that is actually rooted in Biblical ethics rather than a vague, pseudo-Christian backdrop--is about enforcing the criminal punishments of Mosaic Law in order to strive towards a just society and allowing individuals to live as they wish as long as they are not objectively sinning by Biblical standards (meaning everything from public nudity to violent entertainment to erotic media should never be criminalized except in the specific cases where an actual divine law is violated).  There is no other foundation for libertarianism in the Bible.

In other words, Christian libertarianism is inherently theonomist.  There is otherwise nothing to consistently, definitively distinguish Christian and secular libertarian stances.  The Biblical role of government is nothing but defending the human rights of its citizens through inflicting just legal penalties on those who have committed sins with the status of crimes, as well as through military means when threatened by tyrannical outsiders, and Mosaic Law details which penalties are just for various crimes.  Any unecessary, contradictory, or unjust governmental actions fall outside of this.

It is impossible to truly shape a libertarian system into its Biblical form when the penalties are arbitrarily chosen based on popularity, emotion, or happenstance.  Justice, being the foundational structure of all morality, is not culturally relative; either a punishment is just or unjust across all times and cultures, or the only alternative is moral nihilism.  No Christian will pretend like the Bible supports cultural relativism with regards to criminal justice if they care about justice itself rather than about personal or societal feelings about justice.

It is this necessary inflexibility that puts Christian libertarianism at odds with several ideas put forth by some secular libertarians, such as the notion that abortion should not be treated as a criminal matter.  However, no aspect of Christian libertarianism contradicts any consistent application of libertarianism that does not have the adjective "Christian" before it.  As those who would claim that libertarianism does not need theonomy in ordercto be legitimized, secular libertarians have nothing to appeal to beyond existing government norms or subjective impulses, rendering their very basis for an ethical government nonexistent.

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