when personal control is threatened, people defend external systems of control, such as God and government. This theoretical perspective also suggests that belief in God and support for governmental systems, although seemingly disparate, will exhibit a hydraulic relationship with one another. Using both experimental and longitudinal designs in Eastern and Western cultures, the authors demonstrate that experimental manipulations or naturally occurring events (e.g., electoral instability) that lower faith in one of these external systems (e.g., the government) lead to subsequent increases in faith in the other (e.g., God).
Friday, November 05, 2010
Where God and Libertarianism Meet
A main focus of my writing here has been my lack of faith in government and my firm belief in God. Apparently the two are may be connected:
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I'm not convinced--the Christian/libertarian coalition is a relatively new phenomenon even in American politics (the Bible Belt/"Solid South" was solidly Democratic during the New Deal, after all). But I've had a similar thought, except sort of in reverse: the belief in absolute individualism or self-reliance (I earned this all MYSELF with no help from nobody no-how) should lead you either to become a radical libertarian or a radical atheist. For the same basic reason.
ReplyDelete(Not sure it has to be one or the other--I don't know, but I would guess there are a lot of atheist libertarians out there.)