Dare to Think | Mere Liberty Podcast

The Libertarian Party removed its abortion plank in 2022, ending fifty years of failed attempts to articulate a consistent position on women's and children's rights. This episode traces that history — from the LP's first platform in 1972 through the debates that led to removal — and examines what the change does and doesn't mean. Removing the plank doesn't make the LP officially pro-life, and it doesn't abandon the party's principles on women's rights. It reflects what has always been true: libertarians are genuinely divided on abortion. The deeper question — whether abortion constitutes a rights violation under the non-aggression principle — remains unresolved, and that is the debate libertarian philosophers now have to face.

_*]:min-w-0 gap-3"> Main Points of Discussion 00:00 Introduction: Is the LP pro-choice? What the platform's silence means 05:30 The LP's abortion plank from 1972 through 2000: a history of failed attempts 06:44 Division within the LP: the long-standing split on abortion 08:45 The case for removal: neutrality, consistency, and avoiding infighting 11:02 The Dallas Accord and the "big tent" argument 14:30 Does silence on abortion threaten the rights of women? 18:43 What other LP platform sections say about individual rights and government intervention 20:30 Core libertarian values that remain in the platform after removal 23:02 Why removal was a move toward consistency, not abandonment of principle 23:45 The unresolved philosophical task: reconciling women's and fetal rights under the NAP

| SUMMARY - Nancy Pearcey Explains The Toxic War on Masculinity |

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In this episode of Dare to Think, Kerry Baldwin interviews Professor Nancy Pearcey about her book, The Toxic War on Masculinity. This book is not intended to take sides in cultural-religious debate between Complementarianism and Egalitarianism.

Instead, Pearcey examines a socio-historical perspective of the phenomenon known as "toxic masculinity" and whether Christianity or secularism is responsible for it. Pearcey finds a number of surprising examples throughout history, and also today from prominent sociological and psychological marriage researchers. Pearcey's book is more of an academic apologetic written for educated layman, instead of a popular piece.

Join me, Kerry Baldwin, with Nancy Pearcey, as we Dare to Think about the Toxic War on Masculinity

Read my review of Pearcey's book at https://mereliberty.com/041

| MAIN POINTS OF DISCUSSION |

00:00 Introduction

01:20 What is the main problem the book is trying to solve?

04:47 What has been the cause for controversy surrounding the book?

09:01 The "Good" man versus "Real" man scripts

12:13 The "Andrew Tate" phenomenon of masculinity & classical Christian schools

14:09 How Christian men are absorbing the secular ("real man") script

15:02 Research for Christian men splits into two different groups: devout versus nominal

17:22 Brad Wilcox on Christian marriages

19:57 Nominal Christian men marriage and divorce stats

21:47 Percentage of nominal to devout Christian men is 50/50

23:24 Fatherless boyhood: a problem of no-fault divorce or Industrialization?

25:23 How did we lose involved fathers?

27:50 Is there a way to flex the workplace so fathers are no longer absent from the family?

29:02 The impact of fatherlessness hits boys harder than girls

30:24 The impact of father substitutes

31:44 How the 1950s model of the household cant possibly be the Biblical ideal

33:28 Closing

| RESOURCE LINKS |

Follow Nancy Pearcey on Social Media

• https://twitter.com/NancyRPearcey
• https://www.facebook.com/NancyRPearceyAuthor

Visit Nancy Pearcey's Website and purchase her book! (Preferred by author)

• https://www.nancypearcey.com/

Or on Amazon (Affiliate Support for Dare to Think Podcast)

• https://amzn.to/3wzDPcX

| SUPPORT DARE TO THINK |

https://mereliberty.com/membership

https://mereliberty.com/membership/courses LibertySeminar.com

The Socratic method, properly understood, is not a debate technique — it is a tool for inquiry-based discovery. Kerry Baldwin, Mike Leavitt, and Jacob Winograd discuss how this approach to critical thinking shapes the Liberty Seminar, an online course for learners aged 14 and older. Topics include the decline of careful reasoning in professional and academic settings, practical applications in parenting and theology, and why genuine learning requires the courage to question what you think you already know. Available in self-directed and Master Seminar formats at mereliberty.com.

Main Points of Discussion: Socratic method and critical thinking 00:00 Introduction 01:06 What is the Liberty Seminar and what is it trying to accomplish? 02:20 Who is the Liberty Seminar designed for? 02:36 What critical thinking is — and what it isn't 04:15 Self-directed and Master Seminar formats explained 05:15 The Socratic method as inquiry-based discovery, not debate 06:02 Is the Socratic method just about asking questions? 07:38 How strategic questions produce genuine learning 08:14 Why critical thinking is declining in professional settings 10:13 Understanding ideas before analyzing or critiquing them 10:56 If tests don't demonstrate learning, how do we know we're learning? 11:59 Why AI is not taking over reasoning 12:46 What you get from the Liberty Seminar 16:12 Real life application: non-academic trade skills 17:42 Real life application: parenting and communication with teens and adult children 19:05 Real life application: professional soft skills development 19:26 Real life application: studying doctrine and theology 21:43 Critical thinking as a defense against manipulation 24:16 Why courage is implied when you choose to think well 27:29 Objection: Christians who believe philosophy leads you away from truth 32:56 How Socratic practice has shaped Kerry's own thinking and research 35:48 How the Liberty Seminar serves intuitive thinkers and passion-driven learners Resource Links

To get more information visit libertyseminar.com or https://mereliberty.com/membership/courses/

Original interviews:

• How Socratic Thinking Can Aid Christians in Faith and Politics, w/ Kerry Baldwin
• Thinking Well and The Liberty Seminar with Kerry Baldwin

FAQs

1. What is the Socratic method and how is it used in the Liberty Seminar?

The Socratic method is a systematic approach to inquiry-based learning — a way of asking strategic questions to discover and examine ideas rather than simply receiving information. In the Liberty Seminar, Kerry Baldwin uses it not as a confrontational debate technique but as a tool for discovery: you learn to ask the right questions before you attempt to analyze or critique. The goal is understanding first. Argument follows from that, not the other way around.

2. What is the difference between critical thinking and debate?

Debate assumes you already know what you think and want to defend it. Critical thinking — properly understood — is what you do before you're ready to debate anything. It is the disciplined work of understanding, conceptualizing, analyzing, and synthesizing ideas. You cannot argue well about what you do not yet understand. The Liberty Seminar teaches the prior skill: how to think through an idea carefully before staking out a position on it.

3. What is reflective thinking and how does it differ from conventional critical thinking?

Reflective thinking is Kerry Baldwin's term for an approach to critical thinking that takes seriously the role of intuition, emotion, and felt experience in the reasoning process — not as noise to be eliminated, but as data to be examined. Most critical thinking curricula treat reasoning as purely adversarial: find the flaw, win the argument. Reflective thinking is non-adversarial. It asks: what am I actually responding to here, and why? That self-awareness is what makes the reasoning that follows more honest and more rigorous, not less.

4. Who is the Liberty Seminar designed for?

The Liberty Seminar is designed for learners aged 14 and older — high school students and adults who want to develop genuine intellectual confidence. It is not an academic philosophy course, and it does not require any prior background in logic or critical thinking. It is for anyone who wants to think through hard questions carefully, engage disagreement without being threatened by it, and hold convictions honestly. The skills it teaches apply across every domain: professional life, theology, parenting, personal decision-making.

5. What are the practical applications of Socratic critical thinking?

The applications are broader than most people expect. In professional settings, the ability to analyze problems clearly and communicate reasoning precisely is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable. In parenting, a Socratic approach means creating conditions for real dialogue with teenagers and adult children rather than defaulting to assertion. In theology, it means testing doctrine through honest scrutiny — a faith that cannot withstand examination is weaker for avoiding it. It also provides a practical defense against manipulation: understanding how rhetorical techniques work is the most reliable way to resist them.

6. How does critical thinking apply to theology and faith?

The objection comes up regularly: that philosophy and critical reasoning will lead you away from faith. Baldwin's answer is direct — that is a reason to think more carefully, not less. Truth stands up to questioning. A theological conviction that cannot survive scrutiny was not well-founded to begin with. The Socratic method, applied to doctrine, is not a threat to orthodoxy; it is how you distinguish what the text actually says from what you have assumed it says. The Liberty Seminar treats theology as a domain where rigorous thinking is not optional but necessary.

7. What qualifies Kerry Baldwin to teach Socratic critical thinking?

Kerry Baldwin holds a B.A. in Philosophy summa cum laude from Arizona State University and has spent over a decade applying Socratic method to some of the most contested questions in political theory, theology, and applied ethics. She co-founded Vita Nova Academy of Albuquerque, a mastery-based Socratic micro-school, where she serves as a Socratic guide for high school students. She debated Dr. Walter Block in an Oxford-style format at the Soho Forum in 2019 on the libertarian case against abortion — a debate that required exactly the kind of rigorous, disciplined reasoning the Liberty Seminar teaches. The Liberty Seminar itself is the product of that accumulated practice.

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New Mexico is facing challenges in terms of violent crime, property crime, education, healthcare access, and economic stability. Despite being a "blue state," historically, Democrats in New Mexico have been pro-Second Amendment and have had few gun control laws. The majority of the population in New Mexico is Hispanic, with Nuevomexicanos being the result of intermarriage between Spanish or Mexican individuals and Native Americans. New Mexico has a complex history, including violent religious conquest and the intermarriage of Spanish and Native Americans. The majority of New Mexicans fall in the middle of the political spectrum and are ready for real change, as they are tired of the two-party duopoly.

Summary - A First Person Perspective of the First Battle of Loc Ninh, Vietnam

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mereliberty.com/038

My father died a two weeks ago today, March 21st. It was expected, as he suffered for many years from COPD.

In 2011, he composed a brief memoir. This was meant as catharsis for therapy we was receiving for PTSD he had suffered from his service in Vietnam. Prior to this, and for my whole life to this point, all we knew about my dad was that he had "shell shock" from time Vietnam - and so we didn't talk about it.

In his memory, I've put that memoir to narration. Initially, this has been planned only for my family. But as I dug into his story a bit, I realized, that my father was part of a major battle that has historical significance. And so, with permission from my mother, I'm publishing it here for my listeners.

I've snagged a description from Wikipedia about the battle and it's context. It reads:

"The First Battle of Loc Ninh was a battle during the Vietnam War that occurred between 29 October and 7 November 1967, fought by the Viet Cong, Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), Civilian Irregular Defense Group (a military program developed by the CIA of South Vietnamese to counter Viet Cong), and the United States Army.

The battle was part of the Operation Shenandoah II campaign.

This battle represented the first time that North Vietnamese Communists (headquartered in South Vietnam) had coordinated attacks from different divisions, and was intended as "rehearsal" to experiment with urban-fighting techniques to be used for the Tet Offensive.

Their operational goals were in part, to draw US and ARVN forces away from the cities in an upsurge of activity, in preparation for the Tet Offensive the next year.

The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War.

It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the United States Armed Forces and their allies.

It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam.

The name is the truncated version of the Lunar New Year festival name in Vietnamese, Tết Nguyên Đán, (tet win dawn) with the offense chosen during a holiday period as most ARVN personnel were on leave.

The purpose of the wide-scale offensive by the Hanoi Politburo was to trigger political instability, in a belief that mass armed assault on urban centers would trigger defections and rebellions."

The First Battle of Loc Ninh, instigated by the North Vietnamese against South Vietnamese and the US, resulted in what was considered an American and South Vietnamese victory.

This is my father's recollection of that story.

Main Points of Discussion 00:00 Introduction 04:06 Part 1: David Baldwin enlists in the US Army 11:34 Part 2: David Baldwin deploys to Vietnam 16:58 Part 3: The battle and related skirmishes 29:53 Part 4: David Baldwin reassigned to An Loc 34:30 Part 5: David Baldwin returns rotates home 37:54 Part 6: Discharge and the beginning of a new life 43:06 Part 7: Postscript by Kerry Baldwin

David B. Baldwin received the Bronze Star with Valor on February 27, 1968

Resources Mentioned

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Loc_Ninh
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive

Exploring Foster Adoption with Doc Dixon

Doc Dixon and his wife Bethany wanted children. When that proved impossible through other means, they pursued foster adoption — and eventually raised six boys and a daughter. In this conversation, Doc walks through what that process actually looks like and what he wishes more people understood about it.

Foster adoption begins with foster certification. There is no single path through the system, and prospective parents have more latitude than most assume — including the ability to specify criteria such as the age of the child. What the system requires, above all, is that parents understand their role. The legal and social services framework is navigated alongside caseworkers, and the goal at every stage is a permanent outcome for the child. Knowing that role — and working within it rather than against it — is what Doc identifies as the most important practical advice he can offer.

A significant portion of the conversation addresses the hero narrative. Doc rejects it directly. He did not adopt because he wanted to be heroic; he adopted because he wanted children. He draws the contrast plainly: Superman does what he does because he wants to, not because he is performing sacrifice. Framing adoptive parents as heroes sets a bar that deters exactly the people who would be good at it — those who simply want a family and are willing to take the path available to them.

Doc also addresses the common objection that you never know what you will get with an adopted child. Biological parents face the same uncertainty. The difference is the paperwork. He offers humorous observations about navigating public life as a conspicuously large family, and points to the support communities that exist for adoptive families — networks of people who have walked the same road and are willing to help others do the same.

The conversation closes on the theological dimension. Doc's Reformed Christian faith shapes his understanding of parenthood directly: adoption, in his view, reflects the doctrine of God's adoption of believers. It is not an exceptional act but a natural one — a picture already embedded in the faith.

Join me, Kerry Baldwin with Doc Dixon, as we Dare to Think about what it will take for women to choose life.

Main Points of Discussion

00:00 Introduction

01:24 About Doc Dixon — Reformed libertarian, magician, and comedian

07:09 How Doc and Bethany came to foster adoption and their family today

08:35 The foster adoption process: certification, criteria, and what to expect

13:20 Navigating the legal and social services framework

14:06 "Know your role": working with caseworkers toward a permanent outcome

16:58 The struggles and challenges of foster adoption

18:14 Myth: "You never know what you'll get" with adopted children

23:45 What it's like being a large family in public

24:42 Rejecting the hero narrative: why adoptive parents aren't Superman or Batman

27:15 Support communities for prospective and current adoptive families

31:16 How Reformed Christian faith informs Doc's view of adoption and parenthood

32:55 Closing thoughts and how to connect with Doc Dixon

Featured Guest Bio | Doc Dixon

Doc Dixon. I'm a magician, comedian & speaker. From corporate events, trade shows, to resorts in Cancun & private events — even 2 shows at The White House, appearing on The Late Late Show with James Corden and FOOLING magic legends Penn & Teller on Penn & Teller:Fool Us — I bring a special mix of amazement and hilarity that makes events successful. I'm humbled to say, that's not just my opinion, but the opinion of my clients for the past 30 years from here in my home near Atlanta, Georgia to across the country.

FAQs

1. What is foster adoption and how is it different from infant adoption?

Foster adoption is the process of adopting a child who is already in the foster care system rather than adopting a newborn through a private agency or independent arrangement. Where infant adoption typically involves a birth mother choosing to place her child, foster adoption involves children who have already entered state care. The legal pathway runs through the foster system — prospective parents become certified foster parents first, with the goal of permanent adoption as the outcome.

2. What is the process for becoming a foster adoptive parent?

The first step is foster parent certification. From there, prospective parents work within the legal and social services framework alongside caseworkers toward a permanent placement. The process is not one-size-fits-all — parents can specify criteria such as the preferred age range of the child based on their family's situation and needs. The most important disposition a prospective parent can bring to the process is a clear understanding of their role: working with the system, not around it, toward a stable and permanent outcome for the child.

3. Why do adoptive parents push back on being called heroes?

Because the hero narrative sets the wrong bar and deters the wrong people. Doc Dixon makes the distinction plainly: he adopted because he wanted children, not because he wanted to perform an act of sacrifice. Framing adoptive parents as heroes implies that adoption is an extraordinary burden only exceptional people can bear — which discourages exactly the people who would do it well. A parent who simply wants a family and is willing to take the path available to them is not a hero. They are a parent.

4. Who is Doc Dixon and what is his experience with foster adoption?

Doc Dixon is a professional magician, comedian, and Reformed libertarian who has appeared on Penn and Teller: Fool Us and the Mike Huckabee Show. He and his wife Bethany pursued foster adoption after finding they could not have children by other means. They eventually raised six boys and a daughter — seven children in total. Doc speaks and writes from direct, extensive experience with the foster adoption process and is available to connect with those considering the same path at docdixon.com.

5. How does Reformed Christian faith inform a view of adoption?

Doc Dixon's Reformed Christian faith shapes his understanding of adoption directly. In Reformed theology, the adoption of believers by God is not a metaphor but a doctrinal reality — God takes those who were outside his family and brings them in permanently. Earthly adoption, on this view, is not an exceptional or heroic act but a natural reflection of something already embedded in the faith. It is what parents do. The theological framework does not make adoption more dramatic; it makes it more ordinary — and that is the point.

6. What support is available for prospective foster adoptive parents?

Strong support communities exist for families who have walked the foster adoption path and are willing to help others do the same. Prospective parents do not have to navigate the process alone — networks of experienced adoptive families offer practical guidance, emotional support, and firsthand knowledge of what to expect at each stage. Doc Dixon is also available as a direct resource for those considering foster adoption and can be reached through his website at docdixon.com.

Resources Mentioned

• https://docdixon.com/
• Doc Dixon on Mike Huckabee
• Doc Dixon on Penn and Teller: Fool Us
• Mere Liberty Monthly Membership
• Kerry Baldwin's work on abortion

Seventy-three percent of women who seek abortions cite financial hardship as a primary factor. If that statistic is accurate — and the research supports it — then a significant portion of abortions are not exercises of free choice but of no other perceived choice. This episode examines what it looks like to take that seriously: what Let Them Live does, how it works, and why addressing the financial roots of abortion decisions is not a concession to the pro-choice position but a more honest engagement with the problem.

Main Points of Discussion

(00:00) Introduction

(01:25) About Emily Berning

(07:07) The mission of Let Them Live: direct financial support for women in crisis pregnancies

(09:07) The real cost of motherhood

(11:17) Do women want to choose abortion? How financial pressure drives the decision

(13:34) How the overturn of Roe v. Wade shifted the pro-life focus from legislation to support

(17:15) How political incentives get in the way of actually helping women

(20:43) The stigma of single motherhood and its role in abortion decisions

(21:54) Why Let Them Live operates without a proselytizing mandate — and why that expands their reach

(24:22) Why Let Them Live is something both pro-life and pro-choice advocates can support

(26:52) How Let Them Live differs from other pro-life organizations

(30:08) The operational model: hotline, social media outreach, and direct bill payment

(33:33) Responding to requests for help on social media

(34:55) Monthly financial goals and donor accountability

(38:37) Closing remarks

Support the Research: https://mereliberty.com/membership/

Hyperlinked show notes found at mereliberty.com/035

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Summary - Decriminalizing Sex: Where Prostitution Meets Purity Culture

An odd twist in my research on a libertarian theory of reproductive rights (and abortion), I've had to dive into how the criminal justice system treats the crime of rape. In doing so, I've been led to what might appear to be very strange. The parallels between the culture surrounding illicit sex work and evangelical purity culture. I cannot say where any causal relations lay between the two, only that they appear to be, strikingly, correlated. And correlated in such a way that Christians in particular must pay attention and take heed.

In this episode, I seek to break down the legal concerns regarding sex work and prostitution, and the connections to human trafficking. The connection to human trafficking is difficult given the prevalence and nature of trauma. I wrote a review of Dr. Gabor Mate's work on trauma in a documentary called, The Wisdom of Trauma. One aspect he addresses are the reasons why women will prostitute themselves and it seems to stem exclusively from trauma. But, when it comes to dealing with traumatized people, there is a principled disagreement about how to deal with sex workers with trauma: use the legal violence of the state to rescue women, penalize women, or only in response to violence done against them.

But there might be another way to deal with trauma, trafficking, and voluntarily choosing to prostitute oneself. And that lays in education concerning sex and intimate relationships. I've found a strong correlation between the views of men and women by "Johns" and "primps" and the view of men and women in evangelical purity culture. Have evangelicals unwittingly set the stage for sex trafficking and prostitution? I think there's good reason to believe that American evangelicalism contributed to the problems some evangelicals are trying to now fix, regarding sexual violence.

The popular view by Christian anti-human trafficking organizations is to embrace the Nordic model - make the men behave! Use the threat of legal violence to make bad men behave better. But does this work? I also explain why the nature of economics will not allow for legal violence to "deter" bad behavior. And why this necessitates decriminalizing sex work if we're going to improve societal and legal views concerning women and sex.

DISCLAIMER: While this episode is aimed at supporting decriminalizing sex work, it is not an endorsement of sex work as morally legitimate. I hold and maintain a Christian sexual ethic (sex is designed by God only for heterosexual marriage relationships), though I believe evangelical "purity culture" is an unbiblical, anti-Christian view.

Main Points of Discussion

00:00 Introduction

Ep. 292: Decriminalizing Prostitution: Can Christians Support it?

01:45 Definitions: 'sex work', 'prohibition', 'prostitution', trafficking'

04:04 Why is it important to understand these distinctions

05:46 Difference between 'decriminalization' and 'legalization'

07:58 Explanation of legalization; Nevada vs Rhode Island

09:08 The feminist argument against decriminalization (Nordic model)

09:55 Clip from Julie Bindell's opening statement at the Soho Forum

13:43 "The bleakest view of masculinity"

14:50 Do we know how many sex workers are trafficking vs voluntarily participating?

16:24 Clip from "Sold in America" - a "John's" view of women in purchasing sex

17:41 Evangelical Purity Culture Detour

18:09 Does 'rape culture' exist?

19:28 Nancy Pearcy: how "nominal" evangelical men skew divorce and domestic violence data in the church

23:01 What does evangelical purity culture have to do with decriminalizing prostitution?

27:08 What the so-called "experts" told evangelical women about how to have a good Christian marriage

27:33 Quotes cited by Shelia Wray Gregorie's, The Great Sex Rescue

31:55 Ontological distinctions between men and women don't require a predator/prey relationship

33:39 Connecting the stigma of sex in purity culture to the stigma found in legal prohibition of prostitution

34:21 Legal denial of basic human rights - No Humans Involved

36:22 The unjust handling of sexual violence by our criminal justice system

40% of police officers perpetrate domestic violence in their own homes.

37:41 Are victims of rape stigmatized because of prostitution, or is prostitution stigmatized because of certain views about women, already discussed? (Connection to spiritual manipulation of religious values)

41:57 The perpetual victim status of women - propagated by feminists and patriarchalists

43:17 How do we change society to value women and children, abhor the evils done against them, and still maintain a system of justice?

43:59 Misunderstanding economic demand is resulting with failure and unintended consequences

46:39 In countries that have the Nordic model, no decrease in demand but an increase in antisocial behavior

50:18 Compare to New Zealand - decriminalized sex work in 2007

51:05 Why Christians should care about decriminalizing sex work - even while we don't endorse it.

52:12 Let our yes mean yes, and our no mean no - justice requires it.

52:58 Concluding thoughts - what decriminalizing prostitution means for Christian teaching about a biblical sexual ethic.

Additional Resource Links

• Mere Liberty Monthly Memberships
• The laws that sex workers really want | Juno Mac
• Deacon pleads guilty to child porn charges

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Summary - Reformed Libertarians with Gregory Baus

Today I'm announcing a new podcast that I've been working on and will be co-hosting. Many of you know that I'm a Reformed Christian who is also libertarian. But what you may not realize, is the extent to which my libertarian views are grounded in the Reformed faith. For the past years, I've been one of the only Reformed libertarians with a major platform.

This has created a challenge to me to provide content on seemingly disparate topics, but this takes away from my ability to focus in the topics I'm better known for and would prefer to refine my focus on. So today, I'm making an announcement about this new project with my friend and colleague, Gregory Baus. I will be co-hosting this new podcast, in addition to this podcast, Dare to Think - which will only get better. I'm excited about the opportunities.

Join me, Kerry Baldwin with Gregory Baus, as we Dare to Think about introducing libertarianism to the Reformed world.

Main Points of Discussion

00:00 Introduction

01:26 How we came to start the Reformed Libertarians Podcast; Previous episodes with Gregory Baus on culture

02:56 What's the purpose of having a Reformed perspective of libertarianism; Definition of libertarianism

04:48 Typical Objections: "Profit over people" or "Do whatever we want"; Austrian Economic Theory; "If we care about human life, society, this warrants coercing groups to get along"; Principles of justice, morality, conception of human nature, nature of society and how it operates

10:14 Didn't John Calvin believe in using the magistrate to enforce Christianity? Reformed churches came to confess disestablishmentarian

13:42 What about Christian Nationalism? Mixture of more or less precise of Christian Nationalism create confusion and rejects the best Reformed Covenant Theology

16:28 Is libertarianism is a viable idea to begin with? When is the optimal time explore the ideas of freedom and prosperity? Shouldn't we just make the best out of the system we have? Overton Window: a set of ideas which are "thinkable."

21:23 Not a political commentary podcast; Mission of Reformed Libertarians

Resource Links

Reformed Libertarians https://reformedlibertarians.com/

Christians for Liberty Network https://christiansforliberty.net/

Libertarian Christian Institute https://libertarianchristians.com/

Become a monthly member for as little as $5/mth https://mereliberty.com/membership/monthly/

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Shane Rosenthal | Featured Guest

Shane Rosenthal is the founder and host of The Humble Skeptic podcast which seeks to explore the beliefs and ideas that shape our lives. He was one of the original creators of the White Horse Inn radio broadcast, which he also hosted from 2019-2021. Shane was one of the authors of the book Defending the Faith: Essays on Apologetics and has been a frequent contributor over the years to Modern Reformation magazine. He is a graduate of Cal-State Fullerton (B.A. Humanities) and Westminster Seminary California (M.A. Historical Theology), and resides with his family in St. Louis.

Summary - Shane Rosenthal and the Humility of Healthy Skepticism

Amid all the tribalism and polarization we see today, Christians could learn something from The Humble Skeptic Podcast. Shane Rosenthal, host of the Humble Skeptic Podcast, joined me to discuss this new project, and the value of thoughtful and reflective Christians. We discuss a number of things, including the problem of the left-right paradigm that appears in politics, religion, and culture. How do we discuss tough issues especially with people who are defensive (or offensive) in their ideas.

Rosenthal highlights his pilot episode, wherein he describes the experience of digging into the truth of a story his dad told him about Billy Joel, before Joel was famous. Rosenthal's skepticism was not motivated by distrust, but by curiosity and wonderment. We discuss the twists and turns of the process of thinking through a matter, as well as the reality of coming face-to-face with our own ignorance, a key feature of the Socratic Method which I use in my courses.

Rosenthal wants people, Christians in particular, to recognize the value in becoming reflective thinkers, toward the pursuit of truth, for the love of God and neighbor. Rosenthal's gentle temperament, and childlike wonderment will inspire you to embrace the humble skeptic in you too.

Join me, Kerry Baldwin, with Shane Rosenthal, as we Dare to Think about the humility of healthy skepticism.

Main Points of Discussion

00:00 Introduction

01:28 Shane Rosenthal's background and concept for the Humble Skeptic Podcast

08:13 The fear of asking and receiving questions and what critical thinking is

15:17 Seeking to understand; digging into facts; evaluating information

25:13 Seeking to understand ... our own emotions in relation to facts, truth

32:18 What to do when you have unanswered questions and no good resources?

39:54 Concluding thoughts

Resource Links

Shane's Substack https://shanerose.substack.com/podcast

The Humble Skeptic Podcast https://thehumbleskeptic.com/

Support the Humble Skeptic Podcast https://www.givesendgo.com/humbleskeptic