2007-09-23 14:30:35 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
That our rights come from God is not simply an idea created by a "group of people". It is the recognition that God is the author of liberty. If God is the authority and not some King, dictator or oligarchy, then what he commands is the law.
Accordingly, when God said, "Thou shalt not kill," this law endowed man with the right to life that no other man can take away. Likewise when God said, "Thou shalt not steal," he endowed people with the right to personal property and to keep the fruits of their labor (pursuit of happiness).
In our form of government, a Constitutional Republic, we either keep God as our authority by making the Constitution the law of the land, so that we may have political protection of our God-given rights, or we are forced to trust fallible, corruptible human beings. Rights given by government are not inalienable and therefore can be revoked at the whims of the ruling class, or in a democracy -- the whims of the majority.
Our Founding Fathers understood government and human nature -- two things that never change. The truth of this is revealed throughout history. That is why they gave us "Liberty in Law" -- God's law. Some people advocating liberty see it as license to do what they please. In fact, true liberty goes hand in hand with responsibility and morality and always has. Our Founding Fathers warned of this over and over. And if you think about it, an immoral society that rejects God and his laws will create so much chaos, violence and disorder that they scream out for government intervention. This is what has happened in our nation since the US Supreme Court banned the use of the bible and prayer in schools. The Creator and allegiance to his laws were taken out of the equaton in our children's education and now we have social problem after social problem caused by wide-spread immorality. Read quotes by Franklin and Washington -- they seem very prophetic.
It is important to know this distinction as God-given liberties are being eroded everyday. We are losing our political protection of them here in the United States progressively as we compromise Constitutional principle in exchange for modern propaganda.
2007-09-24 15:40:13 · answer #1 · answered by Liberty in Law 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As a matter of law -- we don't have any unalienable rights -- we only have the rights that we defend, based on the legal protections we have crafted.
As a matter of spirituality and personality -- our unalienable rights come from our beliefs -- and whether that includes some higher power is an individual choice.
2007-09-23 14:35:42 · answer #2 · answered by coragryph 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's "inalienable rights," and we are endowed by our Creator with them, according to the Declaration of Independence. As the phrase is not part of our Constitution, we do not have them from the Constitution. The phrase "endowed by our Creator" was, as most documents approved by a group of people, created to gain as much support as possible. Many of the founding fathers did not believe in a personal God, but did think the universe could not exist without an "uncaused cause" or creator. It was an argument against the divine right of kings and for the dvine right of all rational beings to rule themselves.
2007-09-23 14:51:26 · answer #3 · answered by thylawyer 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Stated in the U. S. Constitution, written by people, and needs to be defended by people.
2007-09-23 14:38:05 · answer #4 · answered by bobanalyst 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
read the preamble to the constitution and the first 10 ammendments and you'll have your answer
2007-09-23 14:40:31 · answer #5 · answered by Kathryn O 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋