Gary North

Gary North 1942–2022 was a Taliban-like theocrat and Holocaust denier active in libertarian and Austrian economics circles (for some reason).

“ The question eventually must be raised: Is it a criminal offense to take the name of the Lord in vain? When people curse their parents, it unquestionably is a capital crime (Ex. 21:17). The son or daughter is under the lawful jurisdiction of the family. The integrity of the family must be maintained by the threat of death. Clearly, cursing God (blasphemy) is a comparable crime, and is therefore a capital crime (Lev. 24:16).

— Gary North, The Sinai Strategy: Economics and the Ten Commandments, 1986 [1]

“ In Defense of Stoning

Consider the mode of execution. The Old Testament specifies stoning as the proper mode in most cases (Lev. 20:2; Deut. 17:5). In the case of the sabbath-breaking gatherer of sticks, the whole congregation stoned him to death (Num. 15:36). Presumably, the phrase “whole congregation” refers to representatives of the twelve tribes, and not millions of people. Even the killer ox is to be stoned to death (Ex. 21:29). Witnesses of the capital crime are to cast the first stones (Deut. 17:7; Acts 7:58). But the whole community is to be involved. Adult males of the city are all to participate (Deut. 21:21). If the city is too populous, then it would appear to be legitimate to select representatives, but only because of the logistical problem.

Why stoning? There are many reasons. First, the implements of execution are available to everyone at virtually no cost.

— Gary North, The Sinai Strategy: Economics and the Ten Commandments, 1986 [2]

“ The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church’s public marks of the covenant - baptism and holy communion - must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Israel. The way to achieve this political goal is through successful mass evangelism followed by constitutional revision.

— Gary North, Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism, 1989 [3]

“ Everyone talks about religious liberty, but no one believes it. So let us be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political, and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God. Murder, abortion, and pornography will be illegal. God’s law will be enforced. It will take time. A minority religion cannot do this. Theocracy must flow from the hearts of a majority of citizens, just as compulsory education came only after most people had their children in schools of some sort.

— Gary North, “The Intellectual Schizophrenia of the New Christian Right”, Christianity and Civilization: The Failure of the American Baptist Culture 1 (Spring 1982), p. 25 [4]

“ The death penalty is God’s required means of enforcing earthly restitution for certain crimes, irrespective of the opinion of any victim.¹² The convicted criminal is to be transferred from the civil court to God’s heavenly court. The means of this transfer is execution.

¹² Murder (Ex. 21: 12), bestiality (Ex. 22: 19), passing children through Molech’s fire (Lev. 18:21; 20:2), homosexual acts (Lev. 20:13), wizardry (Lev. 20:27), and blasphemy (Lev. 24:16).

— Gary North, Leviticus: An Economic Commentary, 1994 [5]

• Holocaust Denier: Gary North World War II Revisionism and Vietnam, 1976: “Probably the most far-out materials on World War II revisionism have been the seemingly scholarly studies of the supposed execution of 6 million Jews by Hitler.”

• 1942–2022

• Wikipedia, Gary North (economist)

• Lew Rockwell Cesspool contributor [6], introduced as “Gary North is the author of Mises on Money. Visit http://www.garynorth.com. He is also the author of a free [31]-volume series, An Economic Commentary on the Bible.” Most of the quotes above are directly from it. [7]

• Ludwig von Mises Institute Associated Scholar [8], introduced as “Gary North (1942–2022) is the author of Mises on Money; Honest Money: The Biblical Blueprint for Money and Banking; and Gertrude Coogan’s Bluff: Greenback Populism as Conservative Economics. He is also the author of a free 31-volume series, An Economic Commentary on the Bible.”, again the quotes above are from there

• David Gordon, “Gary North (1942-2022) R.I.P.” [9]: “Gary wrote a notable study of Marx, Marx’s Religion of Revolution and a long and learned commentary on Biblical economics.” The murderous suggestions above are from that “learned commentary”.

• “Gary North, Apostle of Bible-Based Economics, Dies at 80”, “Mr. North urged anti-abortion protesters to mount aggressive confrontations at clinics. He went so far as to propose a Christian theocracy calling for death by stoning for abortion, adultery and male homosexuality, arguing that that was what scripture prescribed.”

• “Reasonable Doubts: Invitation to a Stoning”: “Almost any anti-abortion stance seems nuanced when compared with Gary North’s advocacy of public execution not just for women who undergo abortions but for those who advised them to do so. And with the Rushdoony faction proposing the actual judicial murder of gays, fewer blink at the position of a Gary Bauer or a Janet Folger, who support laws exposing them to mere imprisonment.”

• “The Man Who Wants to Kill Gays”
• “There’s Something About Gary”
• “The Gary North is a Big Fat Idiot Page”
• “Encyclopedia of American Loons #989: Gary North”
• https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid027REoTeNVNMma529Je9KsnpPyvY3rHj8uisa9DVfmRfj1LMM6iey2Ch6KAdZMmRdWl&id=544792702358067&mibextid=qC1gEa
• https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0PgGat93f7Pgxj6YK6uUTU4WJxuipNzEyQ1riouHogebgDxzM8J7dJ1dFkLGkj3TMl&id=544792702358067&mibextid=qC1gEa

Of course, he's recipient of the Murray N. Rothbard "Medal of Freedom". Of course. [10]

Books [11]

• The Dominion Covenant: Genesis (1982)
• Moses and Pharaoh: Dominion Religion vs. Power Religion (1985)
• The Sinai Strategy: Economic and the Ten Commandments (1986)
• Tools of Dominion: The Case Laws of Exodus (1990)
• Leviticus: An Economic Commentary (1994)
• Sanctions and Dominion: An Economic Commentary (1997)

Other topics

• Bitcoins: The Second Biggest Ponzi Scheme in History (not particularly convincing, either)

See also

• Rothbard against the Christian Reconstructionists