09 Dec 2005, 12:49 pm
09 Dec 2005, 1:15 pm
catwhowalksbyherself wrote:
I suppose I would call myself a Christian Democrat. At heart I am a libertarian (socially and economically liberal); after having lived in the high-tax, high unemployment economy in Poland I felt that it was better for people to be able to make more of their own decisions than have an all-powerful nanny state and public sector. Poland is caught in a double whammy - not enough tax revenue to provide proper social services but enough taxation to stymie employment. The problems of that kind of economy are slowly being felt here....
For a self-confessed tory, you have come surprisingly close to describing an individualist variant on libetarian-socialism (aka anarchy!
)Have you considered individualist Christian-Anarchism?
Quote:
Christian Anarchists take seriously Jesus' words to his followers that "kings and governors have domination over men; let there be none like that among you." Similarly, Paul's dictum that there "is no authority except God" is taken to its obvious conclusion with the denial of state authority within society. Thus, for a true Christian, the state is usurping God's authority and it is up to each individual to govern themselves and discover that (to use the title of Tolstoy's famous book) The Kingdom of God is within you.
Similarly, the voluntary poverty of Jesus, his comments on the corrupting effects of wealth and the Biblical claim that the world was created for humanity to be enjoyed in common have all been taken as the basis of a socialistic critique of private property and capitalism. Indeed, the early Christian church (which could be considered as a liberation movement of slaves, although one that was later co-opted into a state religion) was based upon communistic sharing of material goods, a theme which has continually appeared within radical Christian movements (indeed, the Bible would have been used to express radical libertarian aspirations of the oppressed, which, in later times, would have taken the form of anarchist or Marxist terminology)
Similarly, the voluntary poverty of Jesus, his comments on the corrupting effects of wealth and the Biblical claim that the world was created for humanity to be enjoyed in common have all been taken as the basis of a socialistic critique of private property and capitalism. Indeed, the early Christian church (which could be considered as a liberation movement of slaves, although one that was later co-opted into a state religion) was based upon communistic sharing of material goods, a theme which has continually appeared within radical Christian movements (indeed, the Bible would have been used to express radical libertarian aspirations of the oppressed, which, in later times, would have taken the form of anarchist or Marxist terminology)
http://www.infoshop.org/faq/secA3.html#seca37
09 Dec 2005, 1:35 pm
