As someone who is a social studies educator, libertarian and Christian, people seem to want to ask my opinion on a multitude of current political issues. These issues range in different facets of political discussion, from the homosexual civil liberties to border control. Often, people seem surprised by my answers, including fellow Christians. Fellow Christians ask how I can hold these libertarian views while being a Christian. Isn't homosexuality a sin according to the God of the Bible? According to the Christian Bible, yes. Christians are so surprised or horrified when I say that homosexuals should be able to practice this lifestyle. Wouldn't a Christian condemn such a lifestyle? Well, yes and no. In future articles, I will discuss my thinking and beliefs on such issues, from a libertarian Christian. But in this article, I want to explain to you why I can be both a libertarian and Christian and how those two labels can co-exist.
Libertarianism according to the California Libertarian Party site:
Platform
We, the members of the Libertarian Party, hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal rights of others to live in whatever manner they choose.
Where governments exist, they must not violate the rights of any individual, namely:
Right to Life
People have the right to be free from those who would physically injure or kill them. No one has the right to take the life of an innocent person. The right to life does not preclude the right to self-defense or the defense of another under imminent attack.
Right to Liberty
People have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, to pursue any lifestyle or course of action they wish, while taking responsibility for their actions and not violating the rights of others in the process.
Right to Property
"Property rights" are inseparable from "human rights." To lose property is to lose that portion of life expended for that property. Property is an extension of self-ownership and comprises those goods, services, materials, products of labor, and real property which are acquired without the use of coercion, trespass or fraud.
Acknowledging these three necessary human rights is important. These are human rights given to us by our creator and is the epitome of the Libertarian ideology. Nothing can take these rights from you; religion, government, or any other human. So why is this so Christian. Well, the first sentence of the platform captivates the ideology of the Bible under Jesus' sacrificial blood. According to the Bible, Jesus gives us both free will and individualism. While Christians encourage other Christians to evangelize and disciple, people have the free will to either worship Jesus or deny him. That free will is the same free will that libertarians believe you should be able to exercise. You should be able to live your life according to your own values, whether that be Christian values or secular values. Jesus doesn't want a captive audience to worship him, he wants a captivated audience.
A person must have all three of these rights and no one person's rights can trump another person's rights. This is why something like slavery is against libertarian ideology. A slave owner cannot claim that the slave is their property because it infringes on the slave's property rights, the right to his own labor.
I hope that I did a good job of explaining why I believe libertarianism and Christianity can both be coinciding ideologies and beliefs.
