America's Declaration of Independence says that all men are CREATED equal, and that they are endowed by their CREATOR with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If there is no Creator, how can there be fundamental rights that don't depend on the actions of government?
2007-09-03 05:23:25 · 21 answers · asked by Bruce 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
So far, no one has suggested an alternate basis for human rights other than transitory human agreements. Note that the Nuremberg trials condemned Nazis for legal and socially approved acts because they violated human rights independent of German law.
2007-09-03 07:09:27 · update #1
You bring up a good point Bruce. By this understanding then, an atheist has no basis to object of another killing him. It would be hypocritical for him to expect the other to NOT murder him because he has a right to live, a right given by a Creator that he doesn't believe in...at least here in the USA.
God Bless
Robin
2007-09-04 01:16:13 · answer #1 · answered by Robin 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not the actions of government, but the consensus of society. We have agreed as a society that we all have the right to our own private property. We have agreed as a society that education up to a certain level is also a right.
There are other rights which I think most of us consider mostly "in-born" or "common sense," such as the right to not be murdered. Nearly every society ever to exist has had these kinds of rights. In my opinion, it is an outgrowth of our evolution as very social creatures. We have developed to be dependent upon the group, and so we have developed alongside that the understanding that we must treat others the way we desire to be treated. I don't see a need for a "creator" there.
2007-09-03 05:30:59 · answer #2 · answered by N 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The choice of the word CREATOR by the authors of the Declaration must be taken contestually: they were deists.
Rights do not come from a divinity of any kind. They are recognized by LOGICAL THINKING. If I do not have the right to exist, you do not either and we just go to war and kill each other. But if I agree that I do have the right to exist, LOGIC tells me that you do too, and we both can live.
A country with a government that PROTECTS this principle is what the Founding Farthers of America intended to create.
2007-09-03 05:35:31 · answer #3 · answered by DrEvol 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
We are social animals, and consequently have an instinctive sense of what social behavior ought to be. This instinct has been informed by a long history of human interaction, beginning with clan behavior and moving through tribes, to cities, to nations. With each move toward a more complex social structure, theories of human interaction have become more complex. Governments are instituted to regulate those complex interactions.
Moving on to your reference to the Declaration of Independence, may I ask whether you offer this document as some sort of proof of the existence of a creator?
2007-09-03 05:33:04 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Why do you think that the declaration of independence is the basis for human rights?
There are many documents that predate the declaration of independence that establish human rights.....Magna Carta (circa 1215). No creator required.
2007-09-03 05:30:17 · answer #5 · answered by CC 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The wording in the Declaration is the OPINION of its signers. That's a very important thing to keep in mind. Their simply believing that rights are bestowed by a Creator doesn't make that true. Especially when the Creater referred-to just happens to be the same one Who **condoned slavery** in Ex. 21:20-25.
In actual fact, all of the rights we have in America were granted and conferred by the **people** who drafted and passed the U.S. Consitution, and its subsequent Amendments. THAT is the **sole** and direct source of every liberty, freedom, and right we have.
THERE is your basis for human rights.
So what makes them work? The risk of fines and imprisonment? For some, yes, but not for most of us. MOST people are sufficiently intelligent to employ the common sense that also is known as the Golden Rule. We know that if we treat other people like dirt, we're likey to get trashed by them. And that if we are kind to others, we usually will be treated kindly in return. It's a combination of common sense and self-preservation.
No Creator needed for THAT, either.
So is God out of the loop? Probably not, since He inspired writers to compose a very informative and useful handbook -- the Bible. Which fine-tunes a lot of things. And to some extent, even **does** indirectly confers *some* rights. However, it *also* specifically authorizes NO Gestapo to **enforce** its precepts. This is made very clear in 1 Cor 5:12-13 (NIV).
Interestingly, BY prohibiting Christian believers from attempting to enforce its precepts upon society in general, in that passage... it actually conferred liberty to society. And very possibly spares our nation from becoming a tyrannical theocracy. That passage specifies freedom for society to live **without** the Bible's precepts being enforced upon them. And fortunately for society, **most** people don't presume to attempt to BE such enforcers. In the USA, only a small percentage of self-righteous, often hateful, usually bigoted, and almost always ignorant -- people presume to do that, even going to the extreme of conjuring up some phony and UN-Biblical precepts which they *pretend* are Biblical: the nut cases/PSEUDO-Christians who comprise the RRR Cult. The "Religious" Radical Right.
The GOOD news -- They comprise only 5% of the U.S. population.
The BAD news ---
RRR Cult : Society :: 5% arsenic solution : glass of drinking water.
The activists within the RRR Cult, and the lemmings who follow them, are America's **internal** terrorists. And they pose a constant threat to liberties valuable to tens of millions of Americans.
2007-09-03 06:02:14 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The Declaration of Independence does NOT define the Creator as the christian god, or any other god.
It should be interpreted as a concept, seeing as the signatories to the Declaration included the clause 'freedom of religion'.
An atheist
2007-09-03 05:32:38 · answer #7 · answered by Grotty Bodkin is not dead!!! 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
There would have to be an understood and , agreed upon list of basic rights.
When it comes right down to it , we are the government .
If we choose not to participate in the governmental process then someone else will decide FOR us -what our rights are,.
2007-09-03 05:33:59 · answer #8 · answered by Bemo 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Each man is possessed with LIFE. without this sole gift of the Creator, there would be no need for any other rights. Life "IS" Liberty and Life "IS" happiness. Man's law has no power or righteousness and must constantly be amended to appear just.
2007-09-03 05:32:34 · answer #9 · answered by Premaholic 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The founding fathers were Deists. They did not believe in the god of the bible.
The Constitution is a social contract. Weather or not we believe it is backed by a creator, we are entitled to basic human rights based on this contract.
2007-09-03 05:29:16 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋