Why So Many Christians Vote Libertarian

In the past 2 weeks my goal was to break down as simply as possible why many in Christians in general vote for either of the two major parties in elections. But what about third parties? The Libertarian party has grown more popular in recent elections. Why do so many Christians choose to vote for this third party? Christians who are staunchly Republican or Democratic may wonder why anyone would dare vote for a party that has yet to put a President in office.

[Click here for my treatment of Christian Republicans
here for my treatment of Christian Democrats
and here for Christian non-voters]
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On “Freedom” in Jonathan Franzen’s Novel, Freedom

Jonathan Franzen has said of fiction that if it “isn’t an author’s personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown” it “isn’t worth writing for anything but money.” The author’s passion we read in his the novel Freedom was hardly an adventure for money. This novel hurts to read. It makes you ache. It makes you depressed. I makes you yearn for the freedom of having finished it.
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Is Christianity a Western Religion? 12: Pillars of Western Values

Is Christianity a Western religion? Does it share values with the West, and/or with America in particular?

If we examine founders of Western thought, and if America in particular is to be seen as a culmination or premiere epitome of Western values, then Christianity is an affront to the very country that represents Western values.
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My Response to Jim DeMint’s Response to Putin: On American Exceptionalism

DeMint’s letter to Putin can be found here.

DeMint would need to provided evidence that America is dedicated to the universal principle of human liberty. Given recent events, as well as the conditions of the African American and American Indian during the early years of The United States, this principle is not clearly held, and if one were to prove that it is and was, one would bear the burden of proof. Perhaps DeMint will provide such proof in his sequel letter?
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Farewell, Union

Ron Paul’s farewell address to Congress is the best “State of the Union” address I have ever heard from an American politician.  Some of the wisest words come from leaders as they step down from their positions, not as they acquire them.  This is worth hearing every minute of.

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All Veterans of All Wars From All Countries Are Welcome at the Table

“When the war ended, I don’t know if I was more relieved that we’d won or that I didn’t have to go back. Passchendaele was a disastrous battle – thousands and thousands of young lives were lost. It makes me angry. Earlier this year, I went back to Ypres to shake the hand of Herr Kuentz, Germany’s only surviving veteran from the war. It was emotional. He is 107. We’ve had 87 years to think what war is. To me, it’s a licence to go out and murder. Why should the British government call me up and take me out to a battlefield to shoot a man I never knew, whose language I couldn’t speak? All those lives lost for a war finished over a table. Now what is the sense in that?”
-Harry Patch, the last surviving veteran of WWI, who passed away in 2009

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_Not Worth Fighting For_ Review: Part 6

“They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.” -Revelation 12:11

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” -John 8:36

Happy International Peace Day, everyone.  A day we should all celebrate.  In part 5 of the review we looked at the difficult question of how to be or work with policing in a peace community.

Chapter 6 is a message easier for me to accept up front, and is a conclusion I have already drawn.  Justin Bronson Barringer asks, “What About Those Men and Women Who Gave Up their Lives so You and I Could Be Free?”  A question which he feels “seems an attempt to shame the one to whom it is directed as one who dishonors soldiers.”  As if to say that the people who don’t love soldiers are the ones who want them to come home, not the ones who want to send them out to shoot and get shot on the sender’s behalf.

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