Letter to the Editor

Liberty

sent 15 Jun 2000, not published

I'd like to respond to Mike Ross' comment (June 2000) on my May letter advocating recognition by libertarians of the dependence of modern liberty (along with science, reason itself and many other values) on the faith tradition of the West.

He begins by mocking several primitive and incorrect beliefs held during medieval times for which some sought (and erroneously claimed to find) scriptural support. He doesn't mention that these pre-scientific beliefs bear a striking resemblance to those of pagans of all eras (including our own). The development of science, primarily as a fruit of Christian western civilization, eventually debunked these pagan beliefs. That many Christians, including some of those in church leadership, preferred to hang on to the older beliefs should come as no great surprise in our age of rapid change and reactionary resistance.

Ross then recalls Galileo's historic conflict with church leadership for his revolutionary theory that the earth orbits the sun, not vice versa, concluding that "with science like that, the last thing we need to do is mix religion and government to secure our liberties."

This error by very human church leaders along with many other follies committed by those wielding coercive power (within both church and state) proves that such power must be strictly limited. But history shows that Ross' 'solution' of banishing religion from politics is a recipe for disaster. America's founding fathers agreed that liberty is impossible without a religious foundation and events of the 20th century grimly illustrate what happens when those with power reject God's higher law and revert to the pagan default that "might makes right," inevitably yielding unlimited power wielded without mercy or restraint.

Steve Sawyer