In the midst of all the in-fighting over whether social conservatives and the religious right have ”ruined” the Republican party, the American Conservative Union has re-published an interesting piece by Randall Hoven (originally printed at American Thinker).
I don’t talk much about my faith here on E!! but as a Christian conservative with a libertarian streak, I am always interested in these kinds of debates. Generally speaking I’m a social and cultural conservative, but I am cautious about state-mandated morality (because it can cut both ways) and often find myself defending freedom itself as an important right and virtue.
This is because I believe that (1) God grants us freedom and free will, (2) God grants us free will for a reason, and (3) Jesus Christ was not an Authoritarian.
Free will is meaningless if people aren’t free to choose wrong as well as right, evil as well as good. (Please don’t interpret this to mean I support anarchy; I don’t.) We can and should legislate behavior to keep people from unduly harming one another, but we really can’t legislate matters of morality and conscience and spirit. A man’s heart and mind cannot be taken by force; he must give it freely.
Jesus never strong-armed or forced anyone into listening to him, following him, or believing in him. He spoke the truth with grace, closed his remarks with something pithy like “go and sin no more,” and that was basically it. You were either touched and moved by what he said or not – but he didn’t chase you down the street, and he didn’t appeal to Rome to turn the Beautitudes into the law of the land.
Anyway, check out Hoven’s piece and let me know what you think about his views. I’d be interested to hear from so-cons as well as libertarians.
