Ep 3: Pacifism and Self-Defense in Christian Ethics

Welcome to the third episode of The Libertarian Christian Podcast. Today, we explore another volatile topic: violence, self-defense, and pacifism. The overwhelming majority of both Christians (at least in the West) and libertarians are not pacifists, and would at minimum favor a right of retaliatory or defensive force against aggressors. In fact, most libertarians tend to be even stronger advocates of gun ownership and self-defense than the typical conservative. At the same time, many professed pacifists are advocates of gun control, high taxes, and other leftist public policies (which, of course, are always enforced by the state with violence). Despite copious examples from earlier in church history, finding consistent Christian pacifists in the West today is exceedingly rare.

The Non-Aggression Principle — the baseline of all libertarianism — holds that it is unethical to initiate force against anyone, except in response to an attack on person or property by an aggressor. The Non-Aggression Principle leaves open the door for violent self-defense, so long as one does not initiate an attack. However, libertarianism is not a comprehensive worldview that addresses every ethical situation, and it’s possible that the Bible calls Christians to an even higher standard of behavior than what baseline libertarianism would permit.

Are Christians ever permitted to use violence, even in self-defense or the defense of others? Should we encourage gun ownership? What about Christians serving in the military or as police officers? Tune in to Episode 3 of The Libertarian Christian Podcast! We’ll even cover the type of cliché hypothetical scenarios that anyone involved in this debate can expect to hear in every conversation on the subject; maybe we’ll even succeed in ‘blowing away’ a few of them…

Books

• The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard Hays.
• Fight: A Christian Case for Nonviolence by Preston Sprinkle. See also here.
  A Farewell to Mars by Brian Zahnd. Read Doug’s review here.
• Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink.
• Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne.
• Disarming Scripture by Derek Flood.
• Kingdom Conspiracy by Scot McKnight.  Read Nick’s review here.
• Myth of a Christian Nation by Greg Boyd.

Articles and Other Resources

• Stanley Hauerwas and Miroslav Volf, “Peace and the Apocalypse.”
• John Piper, “Should Christians Be Encouraged to Arm Themselves?”
• Doug Stuart, “Christians and Guns: A Libertarian Christian Perspective.”
• David Gornoski, “Drop the Scapegoat! The Pragmatic Case for Christian Nonviolence.”
• David Gornoski’s talk to Christians for Liberty Conference: “A Neighbor’s Choice.”
• Preston Sprinkle, “The Early Church and Military Service.”
• Ben Witherington III, “The Long Journey of a Christian Pacifist.”
• Greg Boyd, miscellaneous writings on Christianity and violence.