Orthodox Christians?

[tprovince08]

Hi, everyone. Just wondering if there are any other Orthodox Christians taking advantage of this great resource. Many of the bright lights of the liberty movement are devout Catholics (i.e. Tom Woods, Judge Napolitano and more), which is great, but I’m a relatively new convert to the Orthodox Church and a little curious as to how libertarian thought is typically received in Orthodox parishes. One would think, given the brutal persecution of Orthodox under communism, they’d tend to be wary of statism and a bit more open to peaceful, voluntary solutions to social problems.

[chad]

Not Orthodox myself, but I know some. And all whom I know are liberty lovers. Personally, I’m bent towards reformation theology. Seems anyone in other denominations not entrapped in statism is an anomaly.

[swalsh81]

want an anomaly to many people? I’m a baptist.

[drphil0001]

I intend to learn more on Woods’ opinion of Catholicism. I can’t possibly see how the Catholic Church can be anything but an Uber-statist in waiting. Rothbard, himself, talks about how minority religions can indeed be promoters of (classical) liberalism. But once they are the majority it’s statist time.

[mxl2003]

Not sure if this recommendation was from Tom or not, but this book was recommended to me on the subject, and it’s dirt cheap on Kindle, if you’re interested in reading about the subject.

[tprovince08]

Hey, everybody, it’s been a while since I posted, but thanks for the responses.

Sterling, I think I know what you mean – I was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition and I used to be as hardcore of a neocon as they come, along with just about everyone else in the churches I attended. So yes, it is exceedingly rare to find a liberty-oriented person in the Baptist tradition… or at least in the Southern Baptist churches I was raised in and attended until I was received into the Orthodox Church.

And drphil, you may have already done so, but I highly recommend looking into Professor Woods’ writing on the Catholic Church. He is a devout Catholic and has written some wonderful stuff as to why Catholics can indeed be libertarians in addition to his work on how the Catholic Church has contributed to the cause of liberty.

[gutzmank]

I’m an Orthodox convert (since 1990). I’d be happy to communicate about it further, if you’d like, via e-mail: gutzmank@wcsu.edu.

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