Monday, April 23, 2007

My Religious and Libertarian Views: Conflicting or Compatible

After 10 years a Republican, I became dissatisfied with the "Grand Ol' Party's " compromises on different issues. It became quite clear to me that the lines were beginning to blur between it and the Democratic party. In fact, I'm not the only one that has felt that way. David Boaz and David Kirby of the CATO Institute brought to light some fascinating statistics that were not at all surprising to me. What they figured out was that most Americans, after having answered some some simple questions, actually subscribe to Libertarian tenets.

Basically, we (Libertarians) have an aversion to LARGE government involvement in personal freedoms (some Libertarians don't believe in any government). The only role the government has is to protect me from enemies foreign and domestic. And to make sure that I can travel from "here to there". However, there are some issues that come into conflict with my religious views. One in particular that I'm very passionate about--abortion. How can I as a Christian and a Libertarian stop a woman from having an abortion through government sanctions? In other words, as a Christian, killing an unborn child is the cruelest form of inconvenience elimination that a society can employ. At the same time, as a Libertarian, I believe that government injunctions are not the answer. So, what do I do? Well, there are a few things I propose.

  1. I can argue that abortion is sin and that anyone who engages in that type of behavior will suffer an eternity in hell. But somehow, I don't think this is going to convince a woman to give up on this cruel crusade. In fact, I would be considered a hate-monger.
  2. I could argue that abortion is actually murder. That way government has an invested interest in the unborn fetus, thereby, invoking the government without stepping on personal freedoms. Instead, It would be the protection of civil rights in the fetus. But this has been tried and failed.
  3. Leave this issue to the state governments, which is in place now, but every time a challenge comes up in front of a states supreme court it is the federal government that makes the determination for the states.
  4. And this the one that I favor. Leave it to the individual woman. Since, collectively as a society, we don't deem the fetus as a person anyway. This gets government out of the way. Then, Christians can rail against that behavior all they want. If it works to get her to stop the cruel act praise God. If it doesn't, then she and she only will have to answer for her actions in the heavenly court.
#4 I think will work in all situations in which I have a conflict between my religious and Libertarian views.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great work.