Doug Wilson

And so in my thinking, I call myself a theocrat, but also a theocratic libertarian.

I believe that in the vast swath of human endeavor, the government ought to simply leave us alone.

And if the Bible doesn't, and so for me, coercion is a big deal.

And so if the state is going to coerce me on some issue, I want them to have scriptural foundation for doing it.

So rape and murder and theft and those sorts of things.

are things that we find in the Bible prohibited as sins, but also taught in the Bible as crimes, treated as crimes.

But there are things that are clearly sinful, like envy, right?

You've got envy in your heart.

But the civil magistrate is not competent to weigh whether or not

I'm envious."

We leave that to God at the last day, and the Bible never assigns a civil penalty for sins like envy or jealousy or hatred or things like that.

As long as you don't take steps to act on your hatred via murder, then the state leaves you alone.

And so this is the thing that a lot of people would be surprised by.

Under a theocratic libertarian order, the average citizen would have a great deal more freedom than he currently has.

We're not ushering in a reformed despotic regime where reformed clergymen with weird beards are telling you or orchestrating every detail of your life.

We have that now.

We have that now.

They tell me that I have to sort my garbage now.

They tell me what light bulbs I get to use now.

They tell me that I have to put a brick in the tank of my toilet now.