14. “The Importance of Christian Thought for the American Libertarian Movement: Christian Libertarianism, 1950–71″
by Lee Haddigan
Abstract: Murray N. Rothbard argued that there are many philosophic and non-philosophic arguments that provide a satisfactory basis for individual liberty. Rarely, however, did he discuss the claims of Christianity to be a suitable foundation for individual freedom. By looking at the Christian libertarians of the Old Right, between 1950 and 1971, the article contends that religious values were the most important reason for libertarians pursuing a society composed of free individuals during that period. By examining the journals Faith and Freedom, Christian Economics, and the Freeman, and the positive views of Rev. Carl McIntire, the author explains the philosophy of Christian libertarianism. It is the belief that individual freedom is only the highest political end; the necessary means for God’s Creation to develop unhindered their conscience and the full ‘sacredness of their personality.’ Christian libertarians maintain that individuals cannot be coerced by government to lead a virtuous life. They must instead be persuaded, by a true understanding of the life of Jesus especially, to choose to follow the moral life sanctioned by the Bible. The desire to follow the Golden Rule voluntarily, Christian libertarians explain, is the God-given template that allows a society of individuals to live in freedom. It was this Christian ethic, Christian libertarians insist, couched in terms of the Natural Law, that inspired the founding fathers to establish a system of government where the individual is free to enjoy their ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ The article concludes by discussing Frank S. Meyer’s ‘fusionist’ attempt to find a uniting theme for traditionalists and libertarians, and suggests that it was the Christian libertarian philosophy in all but name. It also suggests that if America has any valid claim to be ‘Exceptional,’ then it is based on the nation’s traditional defence of individual freedom as a God-given grant.
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I just read the PDF on Christian libertarianism and it’s frankly just plain goofy. I was appalled to see the author had the very bad taste to cite lew Rockwell’s Ayn Rand Is Dead piece from the CFR run National Review exactly 20 years ago. Just reading in George Will’s column today that Atlas Shrugged has sold 600,000 copies since Obama took office.
Some death ! Harry George Resch was wrong in stating that before Rand all libertarians were believers. Not true and more importantly, Atlas Shrugged created the modern libertarian and conservative movements. I think
Barry Goldwater acknowledged this in his correspondence with Rand. None of the actual events associated with Isabel Paterson (whose first name is typoed in this paper), Joe McCarthy’s crusade, the Hayek,Mises (he was never a believer), Hazlitt and Rothbard works ever required a belief in supernaturalism or Christian ethics. Rothbard’s comments on Christianity are simply wrong and this was during the same period he was endorsing Che, the
Soviet apologist Deena Frank Fleming’s Cold War set, black power, Mark Hatfield for President, SDS, Karl Hess,Liggio’s work at the Communist Guardian and innumerable other stupid stands.
At precisely what point did Mr. Hardesty change his mind on Che? He wrote quite positively about Che and Rothbard’s “endorsing” of him in a post in 2004 at Tom Palmer’s site.
Up your butt Joe Boo!
It is indeed fortunate that the number of avowed atheists in our nation is well under ten percent. Atheist Libertarians, who must be a fraction of that ten percent, will thus never reach significant power over the majority of the people and their devoutly held “supernaturalism and Christian ethics.” Thank God for that!
It’s revealing of the atheistic character to observe such a visceral comment to what appears on pages one and two of this 31 page paper, especially when the content of the first two pages are more introductory than argumentative. But isn’t this what one normally encounters with someone so irrationally hostile to religion? It also seems rather frequently encountered amongst those championing a collective ordering of humanity.
The irony is that the very people who made us less free today are the same ones that are devout to “God.”
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You also must recognize that certain ones who were devout to “God” also conceived and brought you the U.S. Constitution. If we, then, have examples of ones with devout conviction in “God” championing freedom in certain instances and tyranny in others, is it necessarily true that devotion to “God” is perquisite for either liberty or despotism—A reasonable assertion from the course of history. But what practical examples do we have of atheism as a foundation for human ordering? These examples are exclusively collectivist. Might these suggest a tendency in atheism for Sate exaltation? Though some bristle at the idea that liberty has its source in something transcendental, the enlightenment, having given us the fullest expression of the human desire for freedom, was not pursued absent of a devotion to “God”.