Liberal and Biblical?

I just read the latest from my local newspaper's liberal columnist, Dr. Bill Roy. I emailed him the following:

Dr. Roy,

I have a few thoughts concerning your July 9 column entitled, "The Bible provides inspiration for liberals, too."

If I may quote you: "That's a tried and true talk-show tactic--when in doubt, equate liberalism with communism, gulags and mass murder." As I read it, Mr. Limbaugh only connected liberalism with Karl Marx, big government, and class warfare; he said nothing about gulags or mass murder. You made that connection, sir. And in light of Senator Durbin's recent remarks regarding Guantanamo Bay (and the fact that most of the left didn't condemn him), I think a more accurate statement might be, "When in doubt, liberals equate legitimate interrogation techniques with Nazi horrors, Stalinist gulags, and Pol Pot's killing fields."

I agree with you that Mr. Limbaugh's Biblical allusions were out of whack. His points in that regard didn't make much sense.

I disagree, however, that "modern liberalism is based on the philosophy of Locke and Montesquieu that champions private property and the belief that government exists primarily to guarantee individual freedom." My point of contention is with the word modern. Dr. Roy, in 2005 that description best fits conservatism! Perhaps those ideals which this country was founded on were once known as "liberalism." But when I look at modern liberalism today, I see something very different: pro-big government, anti-religion, anti-absolute truth, anti-Constitution (activist judges who edit or deny the Founders' intentions), anti-sanctity of human life (abortion and euthanasia), and many other things that directly defy the values this country was based on.

Dr. Roy, Christians can legitimately argue over how certain common goals should be achieved practically--how to best address poverty, homelessness, welfare, taxation, etc. We can be on two different sides ideologically and strategically, and still be Christians wanting to help the poor, for example. But at the most basic foundation of human political beliefs, every society implicitly affirms the presence of right and wrong, truth, and the value of behavioral guidelines. Modern liberalism denies the Moral Law, denies absolute truth, and denies that freedom requires cultural restraints. At that level, modern liberalism is incompatible with Biblical truth.

And that's why, as a Christian, I'm definitely not a liberal.

Thanks for your thought-provoking column.