An island in the middle of Copenhagen called Freetown Christiania has more rules than just about any place on earth, proving that men are NOT angels, and some form of government is necessary. 

 

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”  That quote from James Madison in Federalist paper #51 is an appropriate introduction to today’s podcast.  In a fallen world, every organization has a control system.  Today’s podcast is a case study about a small commune that tried to live without one.  They found that they were not angels, so some exercise of power is necessary.

 

Christiana is an island in the middle of Copenhagen, where hippies sought to escape the power of “The man,” and live without laws.  It didn’t work.  Ginger and I only sailed by it during one of our visits.  Next time, I’ll walk across the bridge and take a closer look.  But for now, most of my information is based on the article titled 8 Things To Know About Christiania, Copenhagen’s ‘Free Town’ By Danielle Kirk.

 

The alternative community originally sprang up in 1971, after a group of hippies turned an abandoned military base into a home. Since then, it’s evolved into a community with almost 1000 members. 

 

I’m going to share about 30 ways in which Christiana confirms the fallen nature of humans by forcing their people to live under MORE powerful laws than what you find, just across the bridge in Copenhagen.

Confirming the Fallen Nature

Members

You may have noticed I used the term “members.”  Huh?  What does “membership” mean? To become a member, you must submit to questions by a committee.   Hold it: People make fun of Baptists for having a “committee on committees.”  So the hippies at Christiana have a higher developed committee structure than the Baptists?  When Ginger and I moved to Midlothian, TX, we didn’t have to go before a membership committee.   

Discriminatory

Discriminatory and non-diverse.  So, what kind of questions are asked of these potential members?  You have to think that they accept people who are only like THEM.  Isn’t that the purpose of just about ALL memberships: From the Heisman trophy to your local bridge club: One accepts only the best football players, and the other, only the best bridge players.They claim to live in a world of fairness and equality.

 Fairness

Oh my goodness.  When will these people grow up.  “Fair” is an annual celebratory event.  There is no fairness in life.  But, they attempt to find it in Christiana.  Fair to whom?  For what?  Based on what measure?  Ok, if there is an objective measure of fairness, that means they are consulting a higher being.  Because, between humans, each person has their own version of fairness.  But, I guess they’ve found one at Christiana.  Sounds like a rather religious place to me.  

* Equality

This should have you thinking about the pigs in Animal Farm, who are more equal than the other animals.  And, that’s what has happened in Christiana.  First: What about the committee members who determine whether you’re good enough to join the clan?  They already are more equal than the other members.  

No taxes

Gee, that would be nice.   More on that later. 

Having their own laws

Oh, they DO have laws, just their OWN laws.  If there are no taxes, who pays for making and enforcing the laws? 

Principles

“….who have all agreed to live by a certain set of principles.”  Oh boy, here it comes.  Haven’t we ALL agreed to live by a “certain set of principles?”  We call them laws.  They call them principles.  This podcast is going to continue for a few more minutes,