The Persecution of Unbelievers Argument
A common objection is that the full adoption of a biblical law order will lead to the
persecution of unbelievers. This objection is used to bring to mind a type of Christian
dictatorship where atheists, Buddhists, Hindus,
and Moslems are rounded up in the middle of the
night and shot by a “Christian” gestapo or KGB. This image is totally false for a number of reasons. First, keep in mind that a Christian civil government does not come into being through a revolution or phys
ical violence. A nation will not become Christian until the majority of the
people are converted to Christ. This may be centuries in the future. Becoming a Christian nation is a bottom up not a top down affair. Rushdoony writes, “The key is regeneration, propagation of the gospel, and the conversion of men and nations to God’s law. Meanwhile, the existing laworder must be respected, and neighboring law-orders must be respected as far as is possible without offense to one’s own faith.”Second, in a Christian state (as noted earlier),it is not illegal to be an unbeliever. One can be an atheist, animist, Hindu or anything one pleases.Personal belief and private practice are not civil crimes. It is the propagation and public practice of heathenism that is a civil crime according to biblical law (cf. Dt. 13:1-18, 17:2-1)