As a Christian and former conservative, it is discomforting to me to see my Bible-believing brothers and sisters holding on to their faith in The State. Despite years, arguably decades, of disappointment and betrayal, they continue to believe that a righteous society can be created with the help of a government that is righteous itself. This belief inspires them to work within “the system” to improve or replace state-directed processes (lobbying and lawmaking) used to affect state-mandated change (reform) as well as renew the character and integrity of the daily behavior of the behemoth State itself. The speculation is not whether state intervention in nearly every facet of our daily lives is necessary or agreeable, but how the government can carry out its forced involvement in an honorable and fair manner. Christians, I believe, would be better served by practicing personal resistance while working toward a stateless society.

Studying history will show that the only form of government even remotely acceptable to those who appreciate liberty is the original formation of the American Constitutional Republic. However, please realize, when you stand for The Pledge, the “republic for which it stands” has been deceased for 140 years. I see little chance that anything close to this original Republic will be restored, and efforts to do so, to be brutally honest, is wasted effort. The alternative is to recognize The State as illegitimate and do what is necessary to create a just, civil society where the individual and family is respected as sovereign under God.

I was listening to Pat Robertson answering questions from a group of Chinese students during his recent visit there. They asked some blunt questions about American culture and foreign policy, and Robertson made the point that “Inside the heart of man is a desire for power over other people.” Of course, people overflowing with this desire flock to service in government, some with noble intentions. Many Christians were ecstatic when John Ashcroft, an unabashed evangelical Christian, was chosen as U.S. Attorney General. We have since seen, particularly since 9/11, how power can corrupt even those who we previously considered humble and honorable. The result is always the same. Christians need to realize that not only is government force but that it has a monopoly of force. This force, even when directed in a saintly, well-intentioned manner, more times than not, results in evil, misery, and sometimes even death. Christians are directed to resist evil; therefore, they should resist the state.

Joe Sobran writes, “Maybe the evil of systematized force can never be eliminated in this fallen world. But why pretend such an evil is a positive good.”

Let’s look at a few issues where Christians and their various levels of government always seem to be at odds:

1) Christians believe in the sacredness of human life. Nowhere is this conflict better illustrated than in the battle over abortion. Through the warped deliberation of the Supreme Court, abortion has become a right to kill, and firmly entrenched as thus in the minds of popular, post-modern American culture. Government has given itself the power to determine life and death in the womb. Now that it has it, do you really believe The State will give up this power?

Again, Joe Sobran: “What greater power can the state claim than the power to redefine human life itself--to withdraw protection from an entire category of human beings? And what greater power could the Federal Government usurp than the power of the individual states to protect innocent life from violent death?” The State now has this power, and like an old hound dog grasping a just-killed rabbit, “it ain’t lettin’ go.” A better alternative for Christians to fight this evil would be to carry on and increase a form of resistance already underway: crisis pregnancy centers. These centers are obviously making their mark since, as I write this, the pro-abort contingent is suing to close these centers.

2) Many Christian organizations have been battling for use of vouchers in the public school systems to give parents a choice of where their children may attend school. Christians again miss the mark and misdirect their energies. They are, by default, recognizing that government has a legitimate right to be involved and direct the opportunities for one’s education. A better course of action would be to completely withdraw from the government schools, then home school, attend Christian schools and work to completely privatize all education.

3) The question of displaying the Ten Commandments in public buildings seems to be in continual debate. This conflict illustrates the “tragedy of the commons” and can be resolved with one simple concept: property rights. Public property is owned by the “public,” which is comprised of innumerable special interest groups that rarely share a common interest. Therefore, there exists constant political battles over just how this property is used. A civil, stateless society would consist of little or no public property, and the private parties who maintain ownership would decide what is in their best interests on how the property is used, including what is displayed there. The only down side of this solution, of course, is an ensuing increase in the number of unemployed lawyers.

Doug Newman, who operates a pretty fair Christian libertarian website, claims, “Government can do certain things, but it cannot make us better people. God puts the onus on the church to enhance our spiritual health, and on Christians to live their daily lives as a positive testimony to their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The power of our personal examples is far greater than that of the state.”

This reasoning parallels the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:17, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith."

A righteous society, surely a goal of all Christians, cannot be achieved through the myth of a righteous government. This result can only be realized by changing the heart and mind of each individual. Those hearts and minds will not be changed when shackled by the mandates of an authoritative government, but by the self-realization that a faith in the offer of grace and the life-giving blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the best direction for one’s existence, both temporal and eternal. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)

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Roger Young is a freelance photographer in Texas and maintains a website called PixelPrairie.com.  He believes that being a Christian, creationist and anarchist are three of the most rational decisions a person can make.

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