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Submitted to the Libertarian Party News, September, 1999.
In the September, 1999, issue of Libertarian Party News, Laissez Faire Books editor Jim Powell published a list of "The 20 Best Liberty Books Ever Written." This list including works by Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and several other luminaries with whom I would not mind trading brains.
Conspicuously absent from this list was the Bible. Although it outlines duties for government, it never tells Christians to place their hope in the secular state. Mr. Powell invites us to e-mail suggestions for books which may have been left off the list. I took him up on his offer. Here is my response.
Mr. Powell,
How can you leave The Bible off your list of greatest pro-liberty books? Consider the following:
The Christian basis for free-market economics may be found in the Eighth and Tenth Commandments, in which God puts His stamp of approval on private property.
God puts the onus of education and child-rearing on parents, not the state (Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4).
The Holy Spirit, not man-made rules, is most effective in combating the desires of the flesh (Colossians 2:20-23).
Jesus cares profoundly about how we should live, but He never puts a gun at anyone’s head and says, “Follow Me!”
Freely Speaking: Speeches and Essays by Doug Newman
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