Oak & Altar. ☩

“ But Peter and the other apostles said: We ought to obey God rather than men.  ” Acts 5. 29. 1.— Introduction. To those who keep an ear on modern political discourse, there is often much clout behind the assumption that there is a prominent dichotomy of financial interests in British society: between a wealthy few and a mass of disenfranchised people.  Common parlance has it that the latter are the sworn enemies of the former, and that the democratic process fundamentally reflects a desire for a perceived restorative justice in one form or another.  More than that, candidates from across the political spectrum present their case in various manifestos designed to appeal to such hysteria and ultimately court public favour.   Such can trace their roots back to the majoritarian system of democracy, which holds that any governmental legitimacy is entirely derived from whichever political party can sustain more than 50 per cent. of public favour, as meas...

" Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I [the LORD] dwell " Numbers 35. 34 1.— Introduction. The concept of a land question does not often enter into political discourse through this age; nevertheless, it is still as significant as all other considerations, as the land is the foremost of all material resources, enabling the existence of just about everything else.  Without it, humanity would perish.  In fact, we would not have been able to exist in the first place.  We are completely interdependent upon it.  Yet, it does not receive the consideration which it should— and many modern conservative movements inherit the blame for this as well.  The British Conservative Party itself, as noted most directly in  Th e Case for Conservatism   (Quintin Hogg, 1948), would not have succeeded " had it not been for the consistent championship of agriculture by the Conservative Party ".  Times have since changed, a...

"The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty." Proverbs 21. 5 1.— Introduction. In part 2 of this essay series, the concepts of interest-rates were touched upon as they related to the decentralised, mutual bank.  However, this purposely was not given much detail, as another essay is required to better expound its operative mechanisms and how they relate to a local economy's inflationary and deflationary cycles.  It has also been left open to prove how, with a decentralised economy and via mutual banks, inflationary boom-and-bust cycles can become a product of the past in direct correspondence with the breaking-up of central banking institutions.  All of these enquiries coalesce to satisfy the Christian social-ethical concern regarding usurious interest-rates, being an exorbitant rate of interest charged on loans, typically rooted in moral deficiency.  Again, the purpose is to unit ethics and economy— or, a return to the nature...

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon ."  Matthew 6. 24. 1.— Introduction. The scripture above has been so included precisely because it summarises the purpose of these essays.  Any Christian involvement in politics should be done so on the grounds that political belief is informed by faith, and not the other way around.  In fact, the latter has created many issues for the Western Church for some time now.  Nevertheless, the words of Christ are to be kept in mind when proceeding, on the understanding that any theoretical developments, suggestions, and opinions are done so with the intention of creating a more harmonious, organic social order— and not simply for the purpose of what appears to be most profitable.  Prosperity is good for civilisation, but must also necessarily have its guardrails, lest we fall int...