Free Liberty From Atheism: Christian Liberty, #1

By Tim Bankes II

CEO and Founder of Labor for Truth, Tim Bankes II prove that Christianity and libertarianism do actually go together and are a much better match than atheism and libertarianism since atheism is built on the moral subjective standard while Christianity holds to a moral objective standard.

 

 

Growing up in America made me think that I was as free as anyone could be. I ran into libertarianism and that changed everything. Do you want to find out the truth about freedom? The truth about why being free is the most important thing in the world. This book will offer an angle for all sides of the political spectrum. It will open your eyes to a new way, a completely separate way of thinking about how we can solve our problems. Most people who really open themselves up to these ideas find themselves having a conversion-like experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tim Bankes II
• Release date: Apr 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201129415

Tim Bankes II

Tim is an author of Christian Picture books, and a Christian Fiction book series, The Last Tribe.  If you want to see a full list of his works, and be notified when he releases a new book, go to www.amazon.com/author/timbankes

Book preview

Introduction: Libertarianism Biggest Misconception

We're going to be talking about libertarianism and the secular stigma. This is one of the biggest issues that I have with talking to people about libertarianism and the values of liberty because they just always think that it's all about atheism. This is really in large part as a Christian why I try to argue for libertarianism.

We will be going through why secularism doesn't add up for libertarianism. We're going to go through atheism and how the morality of atheism doesn't work with the objective truth any moral framework needs, especially a political framework of how people are allowed to treat each other. Atheism has no framework for libertarianism and the values of libertarianism and the values of Liberty, civil Liberty, and self-ownership. And then how Christianity is a better moral framework for libertarianism.

So we're going to be working on this one, clarifying what it really means to be a libertarian

Walter Block, a prominent libertarian economist, wrote, ‘There is perhaps no greater confusion in all of political economy than that between libertarianism and libertinism. That they are commonly taken for one another is an understatement of the highest order.’[1]

I want to try to clarify the differences between Libertarianism and libertinism because libertarianism is very distinctively different. Many libertarians claim that I can't be a libertarian because libertarianism means that I would have to be a Libertine, but that's not true. You could be a Libertine and be a libertarian. But to be a libertarian doesn't mean you have to be a Libertine. The biggest hindrance to people considering the value of liberties and misconceptions about what Liberty is that there are so many different, false explanations of libertarianism. In this book we will be clarifying the difference between the often-confused libertarianism and Libertinism.

Chapter 1: Christian Stigma Toward Libertarianism

The main book that we will use as our source material is Called to Freedom, which is the Christian libertarian book.

Christians relatively ignored libertarianism in the twentieth century, not for lack of libertarian Christian voices altogether but for the overwhelming volume of the non-libertarian voices. Rejecting the teachings of the religious right in favor of libertarianism was completely anathema to most Christians until recently. Moreover, the specter of Ayn Rand loomed over the libertarian movement. Her strident atheism was frequently associated with libertarians, despite the fact Rand personally opposed libertarianism.

[2]

Ayn Rand came from a communist background. She rejected communism as a political theory and as its course of nature. She definitely took on a lot of its kind of communist morality aka the personal moral libertinism. And so, she formed her own alternative version of libertarianism because she didn't like some of it. I'm not an expert in her thoughts and works by any means, but she has kind of made a bad name for libertarianism because she's lumped it into the bigger movement of being anti-government and for civil liberties. So, we see the second quote.

Rand upholds selfishness as a virtue and sacrifice as a vice, which flies in the face of living a Christian life of charity. When I learned that many libertarians at the seminar agreed with her views on morality, I began to question if libertarianism and Christianity could ever be compatible.[3]

So, the guy who wrote this chapter in the book Called to Freedom found out that Rand thinks that for selfish reasons. Biblically, that's not a virtue. John 3:30 says, I must decrease. He (Christ) must increase. And then Galatians 1:10, Do what Paul says for, do I live to please man? Or God, if I live to please, man, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

That's not really compatible with being selfish. If you're Christian, you live for God, Colossians 3:23

Work heartily as if working for the Lord, not for man. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, whether you'd eat or drink or whatever you're doing, do it all for the glory of God. You're not really able to be selfish because everything Christians do is for God and his kingdom.

Christianity is not compatible with that idea, to be very clear Ayn Rand doesn't represent the whole libertarian movement but is her own flavor or sect of it.  Ayn Rand actually opposed Libertarianism. You can't conflate her with libertarianism because she didn't