Thanks for all the thoughtful posts dealing with the question of atheism and libertarianism. I did not mean to imply that all atheist libertarians are narrow, selfish, war-mongers. I was making an observation that many atheist libertarians tend to be left-libertarian and speculating that there is a connection between left-libertarianism and atheism. Perhaps the real problem is not atheism but the rejection of any sort of true natural law teaching and tradition which places moral restraints on the individual, and teaches that the left-libertarian is just as flawed as everyone else, not a special individual in a world of “second-handers.”

Objectivists, of course, embrace natural law, but my experience with them suggests that their vision of natural law legitimizes the use of the state by Objectivsts to achieve their vision of an ideal world. Earlier this year, I attended some objectivists forums regarding the Iraq war. One of their justifications for supporting the war was that Sadam was violating the natural rights of the people. Rand herself argued that the US had a moral right to invade “slave pens” like Cuba and impose liberty on them.

Of course, some Christians support socialism and war because they believe they are “anointed” and thus qualified to create heaven on earth. Rothbard has a number of great writings on this topic.

Libertarian trotskyites, Christian socialists, and neocons all share a common heresy: that they are uniquely qualified to hold power because they will wield it for good ends. Promoting “social justice” in the case of the Christian socialists (and helping Hillary get power), spreading “democratic capitalism” in the case of libertarian and neocon trotskyites (and helping Perle get richer) . Bob Wallace has a great piece touching on some of these issues.

In contrast, libertarian Christians recognize that since all humans are fallen no man can be trusted with the power to impose their vision of the good society. The paleolibertarin, whether a believer or not, recognizes that there is no justification to use state power to create their vision of utopia.