A 'Christian nationalist' defeat of liberalism would bring 'horrific violence' and 'subjugation': libertarian

17 January 2023

More than once, the words “Christian libertarian” have been used to describe Bonnie Kristian. The journalist/author is known for her work for Christianity Today as well as Reason, and while Kristian is right-of-center politically, she is critical of the far-right Christian nationalism that has found a home in the Republican Party.

In an op-ed published by the Daily Beast on January 17, Kristian argues that if Christian nationalists succeeded in smashing liberalism in the United States, the country would not be peaceful and orderly as they claim. Rather, the result would be “horrific violence” and “forcible subjugation” of anyone who disagrees with them.

“Illiberalism is rising on left and right alike here in the United States,” Kristian writes. “Ideological anti-liberals — the sort of people who know what ‘David French-ism’ means, who explicitly reject liberalism’s insistence on tolerance and want to fundamentally change how our government works — don’t have the numbers to sweep to power…. That means their plan to overhaul American politics depends, at best, on a delusional belief that if we toss out liberalism, their party will somehow come out on top"

The libertarian continues, “At worst, however, it depends on something much darker: forcible subjugation of the many Americans who haven’t embraced their vision for a post-liberal United States. And that’s a plan which could only appeal to those who have forgotten the centuries of horrific violence that led the West to liberalism.”

Kristian notes that in an article published by the “conservative Christian” publication World on October 25, 2022, Baptist Andrew T. Walker posed the question: “Tell me, how are you going to achieve sufficient enough majorities in a nation where Christianity is in decline?”

Kristian’s response to Walker’s question: “Realistically, they won’t. Christian nationalism isn’t a decades-long evangelism program. It’s an illiberal politics supported by a minority of a minority of a shrinking demographic. The answer to Walker’s question, then, isn’t conversion and persuasion. It’s delusion — or force. Like other advocates of illiberalism, Christian nationalists typically don’t spell this part out. They don’t acknowledge the comparative unpopularity of their cause, and they certainly don’t openly endorse a return to the ideological violence that fueled demand for liberalism in the first place.”

According to Kristian, the “illiberal promise” made by Christian nationalists is a false promise.

“The illiberal promise is that once we’ve dispensed with liberalism’s inconvenience, uncertainty, and constant rumbles of public dispute, you will end up empowered,” Kristian explains. “Your morals will be enshrined in law. Your culture will be propagated by the government. Your friends will be rewarded and your enemies punished. But a litany of wars, inquisitions and purges show that for almost everyone, this promise is a lie. Without liberalism, you probably won’t end up empowered. You’ll end up bearably oppressed, if you’re lucky, or persecuted or dead if you’re not.”

Kristian adds, “Liberalism doesn’t have a perfect record of precluding injustice and peacefully settling disagreements. Anti-liberals’ charges of inconvenience, uncertainty, and the messiness of pluralism are fair. But unpopular ideological minorities, of all people, should realize it’s the best option we have.”

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