6 Reasons Christianity is More Conducive to Libertarianism Than Secularism

In this article I will give 6 reasons why Christianity is more consistent with and conducive to libertarianism than secularism is.

Recently at <a class="zem_slink" title="Free State Project" href="http://www.freestateproject.org/" target="_blank" rel="homepage">PorcFest, a very cool event in my opinion, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4inPNrEt6o">Adam Kokesh hosted a talk between <a class="zem_slink" title="Stefan Molyneux" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Molyneux" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Stefan Molyneux and Ernest Hancock on the topic of <a class="zem_slink" title="Atheism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">atheism and anarchy. I liked the talk and I think some good points were raised, but I think some other better points failed to be made. After I briefly summarize the points I took away from the talk I will make the points I think were missing.

Christianity is more consistent with the idea of freedom.

Theoretically there is no good reason for the atheist to believe in freedom. In fact, the idea that free will exists at all is one giant unjustified assumption for the atheist, particularly on the materialistic or naturalistic brand of atheism. Christianity, on the other hand, offers justification for belief in free will. In turn, therefore, it is more compatible with freedom. It should be noted that free will being an empirically properly basic belief supports <a class="zem_slink" title="Christianity" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Christian belief.

Christianity is more consistent with the idea of <a class="zem_slink" title="Non-aggression principle" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_principle" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">non-aggression.

Again, theoretically there is no good reason for the atheist to believe in non-aggression. In Christianity, on the other hand, non-aggression is a big deal. "Do not kill" is one of the ten commandments, the great indicators of morality. The <a class="zem_slink" title="Golden Rule" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">golden rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," is another example of a peaceful mindset. The non-coercive axiom, the founding principle of libertarianism, is in fact just one application of the golden rule. Christianity tells us even to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek when violence is done against us, and many things consistent with the idea of non-aggression.

Christianity is historically more associated with libertarianism, free markets and freedom.

Another good reason Christianity is a better grounding for libertarianism than secularism is, or any non-<a class="zem_slink" title="Christian worldview" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_worldview" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Christian worldview in fact, is that Christianity is historically associated with the prevalence of freedom, free markets and libertarianism. All of these things are essentially historically observed to have grown out of <a class="zem_slink" title="Christendom" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christendom" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Christian Europe and the USA. Atheism is associated with communism and Islam is associated with autocracy.

Christianity is a better reflection of reality.

Here's a great reason Christianity is a better platform for libertarianism than atheism is: Christianity is true! Obviously, the more true information which is included in the aggregate worldview of a society, or in its individual constituents, the better. See <a href="http://caeconomics.wordpress.com/narratives/validity-of-the-bible/">here for some apologetics. I don't intend to go over apologetics and proofs in this post. Atheism, on the other hand, is an example of misinformation. Bad information can ruin markets.

Christianity provides a justified epistemology.

Let's say you are an atheist and you tell me that libertarianism is better provided for by atheism than Christianity. One possible way I could debunk your assertion is to claim that atheism does not provide a justified epistomology, while Christianity does. The philosophical result of this is that the atheist cannot claim to know truth, while the Christian can. Naturally, people with a worldview that can know truth are more likely to be telling the truth than the alternative group.

Christianity has a better moral foundation.

Let's say you are an atheist and you tell me that libertarianism is better provided for by atheism than Christianity. One possible way I could debunk your assertion is to claim that atheism does not provide a justified morality, while Christianity does. The philosophical result of this is that the atheist cannot claim to know what is good or bad in the objective moral sense. Therefore they cannot claim that one thing is better or worse than another, nor can they say that people should or shouldn't engage in Christianity, atheism, libertarianism or anything else. This is because the determination of what should be done is a moral determination. The Christian can tell you what is better, preferable and should be done, but the secularist can't tell you any of those things.