"Virtue and righteousness comes through a changed heart, not compliance with
rules," Miller adds. "Christians know from the New Testament that virtue is
not accomplished even by biblical law. How much more powerless is civil
law?"
Practicing virtue locally doesn't imply surrendering to the liberal
political agenda. Rather, it establishes a solid foundation of liberty that
unites social and fiscal conservatives, as well as libertarians.
"I don't want to concede one bit of territory to liberal or progressive
values," Miller says. "The goal here is that (we) band together to 'just
say no' to all virtue politics enacted at the federal level."
Laws that define crimes against persons or property are necessary to
preserve freedom, but not every biblical injunction against sin requires a
corresponding law - much less a federal law.
NFI offers no Solomonesque resolution for abortion policy because it turns
on the unresolved question of when an unborn child's life merits basic
constitutional protection.
Miller simply suggests that others in the freedom coalition respect the
pro-life voters' belief that abortion constitutes a crime against a person.
Meanwhile, pro-life voters must remain mindful that big government threatens
freedom in ways that, to others, are more readily discernible than abortion.
"God intended for us to have free will; that's why Christianity isn't
coercive," he adds. "Likewise, the Constitution is a freedom document.
Preserving that freedom must be the highest priority of the national
government."
Today, the threat to freedom is urgent and requires all hands on deck.
By promoting "freedom nationally and virtue locally," the National Freedom
Initiative proposes a win-win strategy that responds to the current threat
and could become the cornerstone for a "new birth of freedom."