Adventists: The Libertarians of Christianity?
Reflecting on the anniversary of the Branch Davidian tragedy, blogger Heretic Spire, a Damn Lie writes on God and Women:
In 1993 I was living in the girls’ dormitory at a Seventh Day Adventist high school in Florida. Inside “Little Alcatraz,” I was one of about a hundred teenagers deprived of television and radio (among other things); so I think we could be forgiven for being very confused when, at the end of February that same year, our high school came under a strange sort of assault.
Graffiti appeared, declaring the students and faculty “cultists,” and glass bottles were thrown at the buildings. Small fires were set. A police presence was summoned. Our ordinarily absurd, restrictive curfews and social boundaries became even more pronounced, and finally we learned the source of all this peculiar strife: Out in Waco, Texas, the ATF had stormed a compound and the big siege had turned a national spotlight on SDAs everywhere.
I’ve long joked that SDAs are like the Libertarians of protestant denominations. They may have some good ideas, but they attract a boatload of crazies; and God knows, the crazies get all the press.*
Here’s the wikipedia entry on metaphysical libertarianism.
