The Machen-Butler Society

A PROTESTANT-CHRISTIAN LIBERTARIAN ORGANIZATION

The Society is an alliance of theologically conservative Protestant Christians who advocate maximum individual political freedom and personal responsibility, and the existence of a minimal but constitutionally-bound civil government to protect individual rights against foreign and domestic aggression..

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THIS SITE MOVES TO http://hometown.aol.com/machensoc/myhomepage/business.com
effective 3 May 2000



"If you crush out individuality by the strong arm of the State, then ultimately the state will be all, and the individual and the family will be nothing, and liberty will be destroyed."

J. Gresham Machen (1934)

"Now look at Jesus. He never talked about love of souls, and never judged people as a class. He always took the man, the woman, or the child as a person. Jesus respected that sacred thing, Individuality."

Josephine Butler (1869)

" . . . freedom is dependent ultimately upon what is in the hearts of the people. Freedom is not safe if it is written only with ink in the Constitution. It must be written also in the fleshy tables of the heart."

J. Gresham Machen (1934)
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The Machen-Butler Society

This organization is inspired by the memory of J. Gresham Machen -- the conservative Presbyterian scholar of the early 1900s and founder of Westminster Theological Seminary, a man who spoke strongly in favor of individual rights -- and by the memory of Josephine Butler, the pioneering British individualist-feminist who was a devout Christian, wife, mother, and advocate of individual liberty in Victorian England.

Who would be most interested in this organization?

Those who would be most interested in joining this organization would be politically libertarian or classical -- not modern -- liberal. Concerning religious beliefs, it is most attractive to theologically conservative Protestants who identify themselves as Reformed or evangelical, particularly in Protestant denominations such as, but not limited to: the Presbyterian Church in America, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Bible Presbyterian Church, Christian & Missionary Alliance, Reformed Episcopal Church, Southern Episcopal Church, Reformed Church in the United States, Free Methodist Church, Southern Methodist Church, Wesleyan Church, Protestant Reformed Churches in America, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and fellowships such as Reformed Baptists. Members of independent, non-denominational churches also may agree with the positions taken by our organization.

This list is not exhaustive nor exclusive, and we recognize that in "mainstream" denominations other potential supporters may be within groups such as the Presbyterian Lay Committee, Concerned Methodists, and Episcopalians United.
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ADVISORY COUNCIL

Doug Bandow, J.D. [Cato Institute; columnist]
Prof. Paul Cleveland, Ph.D. [Birmingham Southern College]
Rep. Ron Paul, M.D.
Linda Rawles, J.D. [Grand Canyon Univ.]
Prof. D. Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. [Indiana University Southeast]
Steve Scheiderer, M.Div., M.T.S.
Rev. R. C. Sproul, Jr., M.A.

Membership on the Advisory Council does not necessarily imply personal agreement with all particular declarations or positions ultimately adopted by the Society. Any affiliations provided are for information and identification purposes only.
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"The philosophy of the Gospel is the only sure foundation upon which to build a society dedicated to the principles of liberty. It is my firm belief that Christians have a solemn obligation to be dedicated -- as is the Machen-Butler Society -- to the promotion of liberty. Just as Christ's death and resurrection offer us freedom from eternal death, so does the philosophy of our faith provide the best framework for individual liberty."

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, M.D.
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Our Core Theological Position

The omniscient, omnipotent, triune God exists. Only the Old and New Testaments contain the Word of God, which is inerrant and infallible. Jesus is the Son of God, born of the virgin Mary. Justification is by faith in Christ alone, and salvation is by the grace of God alone. Prayer is to be addressed to God alone, and to no other. We deny that "all spiritual roads lead to the same destination," because different religious beliefs are "different roads" leading to very different destinations.

The Legitimate Purpose of Civil Government

The legitimate object of civil government is the protection of individual rights imputed to us from God, regardless of sex, ethnicity, race, religious belief, or economic status, against foreign and domestic aggression.

On Theocracy

The great commission addressed to Christians is not to exercise dominion over humanity by government force, but rather to minister, teach, and baptize by peaceful persuasion.

Basic Declarations

The individual person has eternal and not merely temporal value, being created in the image of God.

God allows evil to exist in the world so that humanity's freedom of individual action is rendered meaningful.

Genuine freedom consists in replacing constraints imposed from "without" or "above" with inner self-government of restraint and discipline.

Responsible self-interest is Biblically legitimate. Since we have intrinsic value due to being made in the image of God, we should and must be concerned with and responsible for our own welfare.

Salvation is by grace, not by legislation nor politics.

God is the author of human association; association is necessary due to the natural inequality and differences of gifts among people.

Social Order

Natural social authority flows primarily from the family, the church, and voluntary institutions. This natural social authority is not to be confused with coercive, artificial governmental authority imposed from without.

Mediating institutions such as religious bodies, private charitable organizations, voluntary cooperatives, social and fraternal groups and other associations of free and responsible individuals constitue a special sphere of socio-political and cultural life, and ultimately are the only legitimate actors through which benevolence or charity should be exercised on a collective basis -- an associational basis of individual choice and consent.

Presumptively, the principle of subsidiarity should be followed. Legitimate government functions should be exercised only at the most local, feasible level. As a general rule, different levels of government should function within different spheres -- and apart from distinct private spheres of action. The principle of subsidiarity acts as a brake upon the natural development of all civil governments to expand their powers. Where and when mistakes of civil government occur, the principle of subsidiarity limits the extent of damage to individual rights and to the spheres of private civic life. A virtue of limited government is that the ill effects of its actions are limited, as well.

Private Property

We are both spiritual and corporeal beings. Private property is the necessary extension of the body of the human being into the world of things and nature, and which also becomes an instrument of spirituality. Private property is the intimate link between the individual person and the surrounding world. Private property confirms a human being as a free personality, satisfying the rights of independent action and self-responsibility. It invokes spiritual reasons for hard work, liberates creative initiative and enterprise, and provides self-confidence and confidence in others. It teaches people to distinguish between "mine" from "yours" and thereby to respect the rights of others. Both the Parable of the Vineyard and the Parable of the Talents, as well as the command, "Thou shalt not steal," affirm these positions.

Compassion & "Social Justice"

Compassion, properly understood, is genuinely voluntary and is not borne of government force, duress, taxation, or mandate. Jesus never advocated the use of coercive government power to accomplish His objectives; the Good Samaritan did not act under threat of government mandate or exercise of police power; Jesus did not command his disciples to use force, private or governmental, to take the assets of the rich young ruler in order to satisfy some scheme of redistributionist "social justice."

Injustice, Impartiality, & "Sovereign Immunity"

Injustice imposed by the civil government is the worst kind of injustice. The perversion of justice, by the institution with enforcement power of the sword, is equivalent to abolition of law followed by its replacement with arbitrary will and political power. Accordingly, we reject theories and forms of sovereign immunity, just as we advocate impartially-administered justice for all people.

Education

The education of children is a responsibility of parents and family, not civil government. Nowhere in the Bible is civil government deemed to be the caregiver or educator of children. Government domination of education -- by operation of schools, by imposition of property taxes, by compulsory attendance laws -- deprives parents of the responsibility for raising their children, in effect turning children into government assets. The primary purpose of education is to teach individuals to be responsible and free before God; a tax-funded, government-controlled, religiously-neutral or hostile system cannot achieve that goal. Furthermore, tax-supported education allows parents to transfer their financial responsibility of education to childless families and individuals. Using force, or threat of force, to coerce others into bearing one's own responsibilities is not a legitimate Christian activity.

So as not to dilute the substance of distinct religious beliefs and doctrines in furtherance of an amorphous "civil religion," government-sponsored prayer and reading of religious texts within the government school system are to be opposed.

Crime, Punishment, & Restitution

Non-justifiable murder, as determined beyond a reasonable doubt by an unbiased jury after a fair trial, and after review by not less than one appellate court, merits imposition of the death penalty. Harm to the personal or property rights of others, whether by intent, negligence, fraud, or perjury, first and foremost merits restitution to the victim. Retribution, punishing wrongdoers in a manner which does nothing to compensate a victim or a victim's family, as a general rule should be secondary to the principle of restitution for benefit of victims.

When punishment is applied, overly severe punishment is an injustice and a sin.

"Crimes" Without Victims

Not all things which are sins are necessarily nor properly punishable by the state as crimes. It is not the role of government to keep adults from risking harm to themselves -- only from harming others. As to personal interests, individuals should govern themselves.

The legitimate jurisdiction of civil government does not extend to regulating the private exercise of conduct which does not violate the person or property of others. Laws which do so enfeeble a sense of citizen self-responsibility, reduce opportunities for spiritual regeneration, provide law enforcement authorities with excuses to embrace authoritarian tendencies, and expand opportunities for corruption. Though the human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, Christians are not to lobby the government to forcibly prohibit non-Christians from treating themselves in a non-Christian manner.

Existence, Abortion & Aggression

There is overwhelming Biblical support for recognizing the intrinsic value of individual human life before birth, and a majority of us also affirm the following: For each distinct natural human being, that which has an ultimate physical ending (death) must have an ultimate physical beginning (conception). There is a temporal continuity (life) between the beginning and end of existence of each distinct member of the human species. Within said temporal continuity, each distinct human being develops, as an attribute of its inherent and imprescriptible nature, from zygote to embryo to fetus to infant to toddler to teenager to adult to elder. To terminate that natural continuity, when said being has not taken nor threatened the life of another human being, is an unjustifiable act of aggression. To recognize a right of "choice" to commit such an act is to implicitly sanction similar aggression against other human beings who are not deemed to satisfy whatever arbitrary standards may be established by the government for recognition and respect as rights-bearing individuals. Embryonic human beings are incipient persons, not "potential" persons.

Defense & War

We affirm the legitimacy of the "just war" doctrine, under which war may be legitimately undertaken for defensive purposes, (1) out of necessity, (2) after exhaustion of peaceful means for addressing conflict, (3) if such war is waged for national defense and not strictly nor predominantly for private gain, and (4) maximum reasonable effort is made to avoid civilian casualties.

Military conscription is a form of theft -- a kind of "man-stealing" or kidnapping -- and an improper interference into the sphere of family life.

Institutional Safeguards Against Despotic Government

"Lesser" or subordinate government officers and magistrates have an obligation to interpose themselves on behalf of the citizenry against national or superior governments, when such national or superior government acts as a tyrant or commands obligations contrary to the word of God.

The political act of secession is not prohibited by Christian doctrine or belief, and mechanisms for peaceful separation should be constitutionally recognized.
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A few questions

Why have another organization for politically active Protestant Christians?

Political messages from the Protestant Christian community in America tend to come in two generic types -- from a traditionalist-conservative perspective (e.g., Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, American Family Association), or from a theologically and politically modernist-liberal perspective such as from the National Council of Churches or "social justice" offices of mainstream denominations. Neither perspective robustly proclaims a vision of minimal government interference in people's lives.

Why have such an organization only for theologically conservative Protestants?

It's strictly a matter of freedom of association for people who agree upon certain theological positions, that's all. We would welcome the appearance of other political-freedom-loving organizations of Roman Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and any other believers. We believe the Acton Institute, led by a Catholic priest, does excellent work on behalf of political freedom, and we recognize the Conservative Forum for Unitarian-Universalists as an outlet for members of that fellowship.

Isn't a political perspective informed by religious beliefs irrational?

Ah, the rumblings of objectivists and other atheists. While the primary focus of this organization is to provide a political "home" for certain Christians, we urge atheists and agnostics to consider the philosophical and apologetic writings of Alvin Plantinga, Norman Geisler, Richard Swinburne, Thomas V. Morris, John Frame, William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, and John Warwick Montgomery, among others, before declaring Christian belief in general to be irrational. This being a political organization and not an apologetics ministry, we leave further comment on the issue to others.

Is this organization a division of the Libertarian Party?

No, this is a free-standing organization; we are apart from the LP. If LP members were to form a "Christian-Libertarian Caucus" within the party, we would endorse such an effort.
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SUPPORT

This is a brand new organization. Your
(non-tax-deductible) financial support will enable the Society to engage in greater outreach; to publish a newsletter, brochures, and monographs; to create a sophisticated website; to sponsor conferences; and to have display exhibits at appropriate political conventions and religous assemblies.

Also, if you have communications expertise (electronic or print), theological and/or political education or training, or a political activist background, we would welcome your active assistance. If you are interested in establishing or joining a state affiliate, let us know.

If you wish to make a financial contribution (send a check or money order, payable to the Machen-Butler Society), or to volunteer your services, contact us [with information including your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and fax or phone number] at:
Machen-Butler Society
221 E. Seventh Ave.
Tallahassee, FL 32303
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For further research:

The following publications do not offer perspectives necessarily in accord with every aspect of libertarian/classical-liberal political theory, but nonetheless either shed light upon or strongly support many Christian-Libertarian perspectives concerning limited government. Check back from time to time; this list will be amended.

Doug Bandow, Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway Books, 1988)

Robert V. Andelson, Imputed Rights: An Essay in Christian Social Theory (Univ. of Georgia Press, 1971)

John Jefferson Davis, Your Wealth in God's World (Presbyterian & Reformed, 1984)

David W. Hall, ed., Welfare Reformed: A Compassionate Approach (1994)

David W. Hall, Savior or Servant? Putting Government In Its Place (Oak Ridge, TN: The Covenant Foundation, 1996)

D. G. Hart, "Christianity, Modern Liberalism, and J. Gresham Machen," Modern Age (Vol. 39, Summer 1997; pp. 234-245)

D. G. Hart, "The Church's Mission: Great Commission or Great Society?," Modern Reformation (Sep-Oct, 1994; pp. 9-13)

J. Gresham Machen, "Christianity and Liberty," The Forum (March, 1931; pp. 162-166)

J. Gresham Machen, "The Responsibility of the Church in Our New Age," 165-167 American Academy of Political and Social Science (1933, pp. 38-43)

Roderick Moore, Josephine Butler (1828-1906): Feminist, Christian and Libertarian (Libertarian Alliance: Libertarian Heritage pamphet #10, 1993)

Ronald H. Nash, "Does Capitalism Pass the Moral Test?," Evangelical Journal (1987; Vol. 5, pp. 35-45)

Ronald Nash, Poverty and Wealth: The Christian Debate Over Capitalism (Crossway, 1986)

Ronald Nash, Social Justice and the Christian Church (Mott Media, 1983)

Ronald Nash, Freedom, Justice, and the State
(Univ. Press of America, 1980)

Ronald H. Nash, "The Economics of Justice: A Conservative's View," Christianity Today (March 23, 1979; pp. 24-30)

Edmund Opitz, The Libertarian Theology of Freedom (Hallberg Publishing, 1999)

John W. Robbins, ed., Education, Christianity, and the State: Essays by J. Gresham Machen (The Trinity Foundation, 1987)

D. Eric Schansberg, Poor Policy: How Government Harms the Poor (Westview Press, 1996)

Daniel F. Walker, "J. Gresham Machen: A Forgotten Libertarian," The Freeman (December, 1993; pp. 475-477)

Daniel F. Walker, "Thielicke on the Modern Welfare State," The Freeman (August, 1996; pp. 557-559)

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