God is not a Republican

There is a bumper sticker on some of the cars in the church parking lot that reads "God is not a Republican..... or a Democrat." I've never had a bumper sticker on my car, but I would proudly stick this one on my bumper if I can get my hands on one. (I also wanted "Jesus is Coming- Look busy" and "Earth First-We'll log the other planets later.")

To me, God is a libertarian. My conversion to libertarianism came with the evolution of my Christianity and my conviction that violence other than in self defense is antiChristian. It is patently antiChristian to use force against another human being, and the hallmark of being a Christian is a commitment to peace, to loving one's neighbor. The first thing I did when I came to this realization was to resign my commission in the Army Reserve. I could not participate in the military in good conscience even if my service as a judge advocate meant that I would never have to take up arms.

It began to dawn on me, however, that my profession as a lawyer involved the use of force. I was, after all, asking the state to make people, under pain of punishment, do what my clients wanted. I had to quit lawyering, and I went back to graduate school to study anthropology, about as harmless (and useless) an occupation as there is. I have since found a way to ply my trade as a lawyer without violating my conscience, since I work exclusively in defending my employer from the application of force by the state. Wherever possible, I work to negotiate outcomes outside of court. My goal is to keep my employer and the state as far from one another as possible. (Meanwhile, it is doubtful that I will ever write that dissertation in anthropology since I have come to the conclusion that being an anthropologist would necessarily entail being an utter parasite on society.)

Later, I began to realize that the state itself is all about coercion. Therefore, I asked myself, how can a Christian in good conscience regard the state as legitimate and lend any voluntary support to it? He cannot. He cannot serve the state in any manner that involves even indirect coercion. He cannot support laws and institutions that entail coercion, even to enforce righteousness. (How righteous are you really if your actions are coerced and not truly inspired by an inner transformation through the workings of the Holy Ghost?)

The idea that Christians should take over the state and rule over others is appalling to me. This is the message of false prophets, and their devotion to the state and lust for power are among the rotten fruits that make them known as such. The Christians of the so called religious right are dupes of false prophets, and I wish that some right thinking clergymen would speak out in a high profile way about just how antiChristian the agenda of the religious right is. Christians should be sickened that Christ's name is invoked in connection with coercion and murder.