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The Christian Argument for Libertarianism - 08/31/2008

Gandhi once said: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." The intention behind the comment was to highlight how many Christians, whose professed goal in life is to live like Christ, do not resemble him in any way. From a political standpoint, many Christians advocate government attempts to impose their morals on society, such as banning gay marriage, outlawing drugs and prostitution, or stealing from their neighbors through taxation in order to fund unjust wars around the globe.

The Eighth Commandment reads, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." Taking something that does not belong to you is wrong. We learn this from an early age, and it has been a commonly accepted belief for thousands of years. So how does a Christian justify voting for a candidate or supporting anything that is funded by taxation? Is it a numbers game? Is it okay for two people to rob you because they are the "majority"? That justification simply won't do.

There is a big difference between living a moral life, and imposing your morals on others. Jesus spent a good portion of his life preaching his ideas and attempting to persuade people of their virtues. In his travels, he encountered many that did not agree with him, and he used persuasion in an attempt to convince them to change their ways. But at no point did he initiate force against them as a way of imposing his morals on others. In fact, he was adamantly opposed to the initiation of force. Ironically, many Christians have no problem with promoting candidates that will use the force of government to impose their morals on the rest of society. Promoting the use of force is a complete rejection of the teachings of Christ.

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim." -- L. Neil Smith

By the accounts of Jesus' actions, he was libertarian in how he lived his life.