Why are property rights so important to libertarians?
Question 14 in Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded
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Christians believe that all things are ultimately owned by God in Christ (Col 1:15–17). Humans, as image bearers of God, are given stewardship over themselves and their property. By property, we specifically mean the resources that a person owns in exclusion to others. Good stewardship not only involves fulfilling our responsibility to God, but also respecting the property rights of our fellow humans.
Human rights are foundational in a libertarian society due to their normativity. In the words of Frederic Bastiat, “[rights] do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that [rights] existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.” But how do we identify or articulate them? This has been the problem philosophers have faced for centuries, even back to ancient times. Property rights, however, are a useful way to clearly identify human rights. Christians may claim property rights (in their person and of their things) vis-à-vis Christ’s teaching in Matthew 20 (see especially verse 15) and Luke’s reference in Acts 5:4.
In fact, property rights are so useful that Murray Rothbard said they’re axiomatic; that is, self-evidently true. Christians can agree stating this is a God-given norm through creation, which is why they are self-evident. Because property rights are evidenced by nature, human beings (whether believers or not) may operate on the same rules, and we don’t need to teach every individual a contrived political-economic theory.
Property rights are useful because everyone recognizes them regardless of their personal political proclivities. Even socialists believe in property rights; they simply believe the government has the right to a given property. So libertarians operate from a principle of property rights because they are universally understood and self-evident. And Christians may operate from this same principle because it’s supported by scripture.