I, as a Christian Anarchist,
hereby challenge
you, as a Christian or a secular defender of the concept of
"the State"
to a public debate.
If you agree to the terms, I will pay you
$1,000, whether you win or lose.
(Plus half of the internet and book royalties.)
The topic:
This will be the most remarkable exchange of ideas you have ever participated in.
I propose discussing the following five subjects. You will propose five subjects of your own:
I will begin with my first subject, you must respond within 10 days. I may respond if I feel like kicking a dead horse (also within 10 days). You may but need not respond. Subsequent rebuttals at the debaters' convenience.
You will then inaugurate a discussion of your first subject. I will respond within 10 days. You may respond as a desperate act of recovery (also within 10 days). I may but need not respond. Subsequent rebuttals at the debaters' convenience.
I will then post my second presentation, and we will rotate through the opening 5 presentations.
Formally speaking, your only obligation is one response to each of my five subjects and five presentations of your own. In the educational spirit of the debate, it is hoped you will be motivated to submit at least one rebuttal beyond these opening presentations, but they are not required. A lengthy, protracted, but enthusiastic, witty, enlightening, and encouraging debate is hoped for.
Whoever wants the last word gets the last word, until death do us part.
Why should you invest your time debating me? What exactly is my position, anyway?
Fair questions.
Who I Am
I am the founder and webmaster for Vine & Fig Tree, Inc., a non-profit educational organization that has been promoting Christian anarchism for over 20 years. Vine & Fig Tree has nearly 1500 webpages on the Internet. The name "Vine & Fig Tree" comes from the Old Testament prophet Micah, and is described here.
Left-wing
Radical — For nearly 10 years my home was a
shelter for the needy. I invited the homeless into my
home for lunch, serving thousands, and in appropriate
circumstances, gave them a room, sometimes for a night,
sometimes for the rest of their lives. I was a part of the Catholic
Worker movement.
You can call me a pacifist. I studied law, and passed the California Bar Exam, but was denied admission to the practice of law by the California State Bar and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because I am an "anarchist": my allegiance to God is greater than my allegiance to the State. Details here. |
Right-wing Extremist
— Before I graduated from USC, I was a Chalcedon
Scholar, and had a regular column in the Chalcedon
Report. My first article is here.
Chalcedon was identified as the "think-tank" of
the Religious Right (Newsweek, 1981).
I believe America was and must again become a Christian Theocracy. I support pure Laissez-Faire Capitalism. |
My Argument Against the State
I will lay out my position so there will be no surprises. Here are the 5 subjects I would like to cover.
These links should help you anticipate how I will respond to your counter-arguments.
$1,000. That's 50 of those colorful new Federal Reserve Notes with Old Hickory's computer-morphed face on them.
But wait . . . there's more!
How much more? How much more do you want? You see the value of this project but $1,000 isn't enough? Name a price. I'll stage a fund-raiser. I hope to recover your fee from book royalties.
If you don't see the value of this project, I can't blame you.
I have to admit, I'm desperate to find someone who'll debate me. If you defend the State, you won't consider exposing the myths that support it a good thing. Giving people an invitation to re-think the legitimacy of "the government" is not high on your list of priorities. And since the Vine & Fig Tree website is a radical call for personal responsibility, self-sacrifice, and a denunciation of the statist principle of living at the expense of others, it is too radical to ever be wildly popular. Without your help, my influence will be limited. But I'm going to keep working at it, and I'll be targeting YOUR readers, so you might as well debate me now. If you're optimistic, you might be saving us both a lot of time. Eventually my position is going to win out and become the dominant paradigm.
Already "anarcho-capitalism" is a growing ideological movement on the web.
If you have never heard of Vine & Fig Tree or its vision of "Anarcho-Theocracy," you're in for a roller-coaster ride. If your first impression is that it's a "10" on the nut-scale of 1-10, if you peruse the links above you'll eventually conclude it's a "10" on the really-interesting-and-probably-beneficial-new-ideas scale. Perhaps before the debate even begins, you'll have switched from debating me as an adversary to joining me as an advocate.
The Vine & Fig Tree vision is the only answer to both questions. "Anarcho-Theocracy" is the maximization of the ideal that made America the greatest, most admired nation on earth: "Liberty Under God." Conservatives like "Under God" but not "Liberty." Liberals have an etymological relationship to "Liberty" but look to the Messianic State for social salvation and fear the God of "fundamentalism." "Liberty Under God" means compassion, not indifference, nurtured by persuasion, not coercion. The Vine & Fig Tree vision motivated America's Founding Fathers, though not in as consistent an expression as ours.
I recognize that you have more status than I do, and that your participation in this debate will make the website and book a success. I will be personally grateful for your participation, and a courteous and gracious debater. Truth and understanding are advanced through the clash of competing ideas. You have never faced competition like this.
My Invitation List