Welcome to the September 2009 edition of The Christian libertarian Blog Carnival!
As usual, we have a great lineup of articles, though participation seems to be diminishing. I hope that is not the long-term trend! On the positive side, we have articles from several newcomers.
The Article of the Month award goes to Nellis Lake, with “Are we living in USA 5.0?”. I chose his article simply because I like it, and well its my carnival …
Enjoy!
Ben Oravetz presents “How Can One Be Christian and Libertarian?” posted at On the Rim of Insanity. Ben writes:
Many Christian conservatives are dumbfounded and often times offended by people who are Christian and libertarian. I encounter those kind of people a lot on discussion forums where I am accused of being a liberal because I support drug legalization, gambling legalization, and other such social ills. What they fail to recognize is that I support such things because I wish to see spiritual illnesses such as those handled more by the church rather than the government…
Editor’s note: Ben is a newcomer to the Carnival. In this article, he tackles a question that many of us have had to answer, either for ourselves or for others, but he goes at it with a slightly different twist.
Bob Brooks presents “Does God Need a Partner?” posted at Prudent Money. Bob writes:
“We are God’s partners in matters of life and death.” President Barack Obama – August 20, 2009
A friend of mine sent me an e-mail with this quote and his reply – a new low. It came from this article. Everyday something unbelievable comes out of Washington…
Editor’s note: Bob is another newcomer to the Carnival. He has a good collection of articles on money at his blog, including many that fit into the Christian and libertarian themes.
Dave Jones presents “What Civil Government Should Christians Want” posted at Southern Bread. Dave writes:
It’s a simple question. Of all the different experiments with government that humanity has conducted, which one is it that Christians should advocate? Or should we advocate any particular one at all? Well, that question can only be answered by a proper understanding of what government is and what it does. If it’s a benign institution that exists independent of common people then it should be an easy step to say that Christians should just let it all be and not get involved. But we know that isn’t the case.
Editor’s note: Dave is a returnee to the Carnival, and the first winner of Article of the Month. He continues the same quality of writing here.
David Gross presents “Some remarks occasioned by the perusal of John Brown’s ‘The Law of Christ Respecting Civil Obedience, Especially in the Payment of Tribute’…” posted at The Picket Line. David writes:
In the mid-1830s, a Scottish nonconformist minister named John Brown (no relation, so far as I know, to the American abolitionist) stopped paying something called the “annuity tax,” the proceeds of which went to support the official Church of Scotland, which competed with Brown’s own, competing Christian franchise, the Presbyterian United Secession Church.
At first he paid the tax under protest, but then decided he couldn’t pay at all: “I have not paid, and, with my present convictions, never will, never can, pay it… I cannot do so without offering violence to a conscientious conviction, not rashly nor hastily arrived at.” Brown held out, and eventually the government seized some of his property to satisfy the tax.
Editor’s note: David is another newcomer to the Carnival. According to his blog, David is an active resister of government and war through non-payment of income taxes. See here for his method.
Dr Matthew Flannagan presents “Sunday Study R 13: Romans, Revelations and the Role of the State” posted at MandM. Matthew writes:
In a previous post, Sunday Study: 666 The Number of the Beast, I exegeted Revelation 13’s infamous reference to the mark of the beast, in that post I argued that the first beast is a reference to Rome; a world empire, built on seven hills that ruled over all the nations of the earth at the time of John’s writing. The historical context of the book was the emperor cult; the roman state, in the person of the emperor, was considered a god and was to be worshiped.
Editor’s note: Dr. Flannagan is a regular contributor to the Carnival, and puts a lot of effort into his blog articles.
Greg Heller presents “Did the Apostle Paul Poke Nero in the Eye?” posted at The Holy Cause. Greg writes:
Some Christians believe and teach that we should always honor and respect those in authority, regardless of the evil that they commit. This persuasion is often based on some text found in one of Saint Paul’s (aka the Apostle Paul) letters, Romans 13. However, as we examine one of the last acts of Saint Paul’s life, we find a very different story. Let’s consider the case of Paul and Nero.
Editor’s note: This article was published on Lew Rockwell’s site on September 24, 2009, my first LRC article!
Nellis Lake presents “Are we living in USA 5.0?” posted at Christian and State. Nellis writes:
Whatever one may think of Hauerwas, he has a point:
Who has the infinite duty to honor the infinite claim of every person to the pursuit of happiness? The answer of the eighteenth century, and of those who have followed, is familiar: it is the nation-state. The nation-state replaces the holy church and the holy-empire as the centerpiece in the post-enlightenement ordering of society . . . the nation-state has taken the place of God as the source to which we look for happiness, health, and welfare (Stanley Hauerwas, After Christendom, p. 66).For long years the situation has developed. The powers that be would prefer that we go blandly onward believing a cardboard cut-out picture. The United States is the land of the free and the home of the brave. “We” are always the good guys. No need to be concerned…
Editor’s note: Nellis wins the Article of the Month with this entry. Congratulations Nellis!
Rick Foreman presents “Some Possible Health Care Solutions” posted at Waiting for the Singularity. Rick writes:
Criminalize not having health insurance.
Anyone caught without health insurance would automatically be put in prison. Of course, in prison all prisoners have health care. Some of the best healthcare is provided in prisons, even prisoners with malfunctioning organs are given transplants and there are no co-pays. An added benefit is that prisoners also have room and board supplied to them so this could also be a solution for unemployment. No job, go to jail: plus the jobs that would be created in the prison industry; a win-win situation all around.
Bring back the draft.
Editor’s note: And yet another newcomer to the Carnival. Thanks for bringing a little humor into the discussion Rick … it is humor, right?
Rowman presents “Frédéric Bastiat” posted at Liberty vs Leviathan. Rowman writes:
Bastiat repeatedly emphasized that his audience was the public; the common man; the consumer. His essays were written in such a way as to engage someone too busy to read. He knew that the battle was for the mind of the common man, daily pulled and swayed in many directions. Today, the distractions and diversions have multiplied beyond the imagination of nineteenth century France. With the pull and sway of Röpke’s mass society, the consumer of the twenty-first century has even less inclination to steal minutes from the day to educate himself. Plus, the fallacies fought by Bastiat are today even more abundant as they are broadcast incessantly from television, radio and other media outlets…
Editor’s note: Rowman is another regular contributor to the Carnival, and a fan of Bastiat, as am I.
That concludes this edition of The Christian libertarian Blog Carnival. Please submit your blog articles (up to two articles per author) to the next edition of Carnival using our carnival submission form, or via the widget in the sidebar of The Holy Cause. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page, or again via the sidebar widget.
Any of the Carnival participants are invited to host the next Carnival, otherwise I will again be hosting it here at The Holy Cause. Just send me an email if you wish to host.
The submission deadline for each Carnival is the last day of the month. So the next submission date for the October Carnival will be October 31, with publication scheduled on or before November 7.
Please help get the word out, so that the next Carnival can be an equal success!
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2 comments:
Greg, I would be happy to host one of these carnivals--probably not the next one, but the one after that.
Thanks for hosting this one. Good job!
RenaissanceGuy - Candidates for hosting are drawn from those who contribute - how's that for a hint! I'll look forward to your contribution to a future Carnival!
Oh, and your offer to host is very welcome.
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