Episode Details

Rushdoony argues that state licensure of churches or Christian schools is a denial of Christ’s lordship, because licensure makes the state the final authority. Drawing on decades of legal battles, he explains that licensure always implies control: once the state funds, licenses, or regulates, it claims the right to shut institutions down. While Christians largely won early fights over Christian schools and homeschools, newer strategies regulation by agencies and voucher plans pose the same danger, since courts routinely reinterpret laws against their original intent. In practice, both political parties have pursued expanding state control over church and family.

Contrasting pagan antiquity with Israel, Rushdoony notes that Israel uniquely separated church and state under God’s law: kings could not intrude into worship, and prophets freely rebuked rulers. Modern America, however, is moving in the opposite direction, with the state increasingly targeting families and Christian leaders through legal pressure, regulation, and financial ruin. This reflects a broader assumption of total power by government agencies, even when publicly denied.

On practical engagement, Rushdoony insists Christians are politically weak not because they lack numbers, but because they fail to act sacrificially and financially. He argues Christians must support godly candidates and work strategically, even forming unlikely coalitions, to restrain injustice. Ultimately, the deeper problem is theological: Christians have abandoned God’s law as a guide for life. Without personal obedience and self-government under biblical law, neither church nor state can be reformed. Renewal begins not with institutions, but with individual Christians taking responsibility where they stand.