Ron Paul's Anti-Fed Crusade is Rooted in a Theocratic Reading of the Bible

[bobbyw24]

In the Tea Party’s short life, the Federal Reserve has been a target of its oppositional rage, spurred by Tea Party godfather Rep. Ron Paul’s persistent calls to eliminate it.

While Paul’s anti-Fed crusade is widely thought of as economic libertarianism, the roots of this combat lie in a theocratic reading of the Bible, arising out of the nexus between Paul (and now his son, Senator-elect Rand Paul), Howard Phillips and his Constitution Party, and Gary North and the Christian Reconstructionists.

For decades, the elder Paul, Phillips, and North have shared the libertarian economic philosophy of the Austrian School, which advocates a strict free market approach to an economy they portray in terms of individual choices and agreements rather than systemic forces. With respect to the Federal Reserve System in particular, they have argued against its fractional reserve banking, and its manipulation of interest rates to control economic ups and downs.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/ar...%E2%80%99_fed/

[Sola_Fide]

BUMP



10000000000% true. Most people here probably don't even know how influential the theonomic movement was in bringing sound money to the forefront.


Sound money is Biblical. There are so many warnings about debasement and theft in the Scripture it would be hard to list them all.

[Theocrat]

I agree with that article. Many of the principles underlying the criticisms of the Federal Reserve come from Scripture, such as:

• "Thou shalt not steal... Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." (Exodus 20:15, 17)
• "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt." (Leviticus 19:35, 36)
• "A false balance is abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight." (Proverbs 11:1)
• "And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards." (Nehemiah 5:1-5)

[bobbyw24]

It is an interesting piece that should be read by all interested in ending the Fed

[fisharmor]

I don't know how comfortable I am making a strictly Christian judgment against the Fed... obviously it has its utility, but I think it's ultimately more useful to point out that Christianity doesn't have a monopoly pronouncement on the immorality of central banking.
Fact is, Judaism and Islam both look quite unfavorably on this nonsense, too.

As a Christian, I sure do wish more of my brothers and sisters in Christ would take a second to review this - but perhaps a double-edged attack is more appropriate.
People should know not only that their particular religion forbids this, but also that ultimately the only religion on earth which comes out in favor of it is statism.

Unfortunately, since most nominal Christians are really just statists with Jesus overtones, I don't think a direct religion-based argument would work very well. When your religion demands that you sacrifice your children to the state, and your religion handles the whole funeral (together with your local complicit clergyman to add the Jesus flavor), and creates shrines to their mortal remains so that their deaths can have meaning - I somehow suspect that a strictly biblical argument against the mechanism that finances it all will stick in their heads. Such people require conversion to an entirely different religion first.

[Sola_Fide]

I don't know how comfortable I am making a strictly Christian judgment against the Fed... obviously it has its utility, but I think it's ultimately more useful to point out that Christianity doesn't have a monopoly pronouncement on the immorality of central banking.

Why doesn't Christianity have a monopoly pronouncement on the immorality of central banking???

What non-arbitrary standard from an atheistic worldview is going to tell us that debasement and theft is wrong?

[Fredom101]

Do we really need religion to tell us the Fed isn't serving us economically?

[georgiaboy]

thanks for introducing me to this religious dispatches website. all sorts of interesting reading there.

though I agree with some of the analysis surrounding the subject of the article, it had some hit-piece aspects (newletters, really?) to it that will keep me from sharing it widely.

though true enough that sound money and honest weights & measures are indeed biblical, they're also logical economically, and implementing these politically does not equal reinventing our republic as a theocracy. Ron Paul does not advocate a theocracy.

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

From the article:

Reconstructionist theocracy, based on the Reconstructionists’ reading of the Bible, gives coercive authority to families and churches to organize other aspects of life.

Of course... Ron Paul talks about coercion all the time.

Ron Paul talks about the Non Aggression Principle and libertarian philosophy.

Reconstructionism is a theology that arose out of conservative Presbyterianism (Reformed and Orthodox), which proposes that contemporary application of the laws of Old Testament Israel, or “Biblical Law,” is the basis for reconstructing society toward the Kingdom of God on earth.

Reconstructionism is a theology that arose out of conservative Presbyterianism (Reformed and Orthodox), which proposes that contemporary application of the laws of Old Testament Israel, or “Biblical Law,” is the basis for reconstructing society toward the Kingdom of God on earth.

According to Gary North, women who have abortions should be publicly executed, “along with those who advised them to abort their children.” Rushdoony concludes: “God’s government prevails, and His alternatives are clear-cut: either men and nations obey His laws, or God invokes the death penalty against them.”

Ron Paul is against the death penalty, does not advocate resurrecting Witch Trials, does not advocate supplanting the Constitution with the Old Testament, and has not stated his goal is heaven on earth.

This bullshit should be moved to the religion subforum. Ron Paul is not a bat shit crazy, non-believer murderer.

[specsaregood]

Why doesn't Christianity have a monopoly pronouncement on the immorality of central banking???

well islam has similar views, in fact usury is forbidden in it. Just as it used to be by most christians, which is why jewish people tended to run/own banks.