Happy Birthday, America! Here is something to ponder on this memorial day to the Declaration of Independence: Back in 1776, both Christians and Deists considered it “self-evident” that human beings were “created” and thus had equal moral and spiritual standing before God. Furthermore, the “Creator” “endowed” human beings with rights, which, because they have a transcendent foundation are “inalienable”; that is, they cannot be taken away.
Today, belief in a creation and a Creator are far from “self-evident”; creation is widely treated as a myth (with random evolution being the only acceptable view) and belief in God is not allowed to have any kind of legal or governmental standing. Right, instead, are endowed by the state.
It follows, therefore, that rights are “alienable,” that they CAN be taken away. The state has recently been generous in creating rights that have nothing to do with God–that indeed violate God’s ordinance–such as the right to an abortion. But without a transcendent foundation for rights, aren’t we left with arbitrary, self-interested power and the foundation for tyranny?
Can American ideals and liberties long survive without the foundation set forth in the Declaration of Independence?