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Last I checked our rights came from the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, neither of which are religious in nature and both exist; not unlike this "god" I keep hearing about.
Last I checked our rights came from the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, neither of which are religious in nature and both exist; not unlike this "god" I keep hearing about.
First of all the Bill of Rights is part of the constitution.
Second of all, the founding fathers disagreed with you that the rights come from the constitution. In fact many founding fathers were weary of protecting rights in the constitution as they thought that it set a precedent of "if a government can write down these rights, they can write them out of existence."
The founding fathers wanted it to be clear that we get our key rights NOT from government and therefore the government cannot take them away justly - hence the Declaration of Independence.
First of all the Bill of Rights is part of the constitution.
Second of all, the founding fathers disagreed with you that the rights come from the constitution. In fact many founding fathers were weary of protecting rights in the constitution as they thought that it set a precedent of "if a government can write down these rights, they can write them out of existence."
The founding fathers wanted it to be clear that we get our key rights NOT from government and therefore the government cannot take them away justly - hence the Declaration of Independence.
God-given rights are only good in heaven; and you will have to wait a long time to have your claim heard before that high tribunal, which by then won't do you a hell of a lot of good.
The concept that "our creator has endowed us with certain unalienable rights that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is based upon our founding father's beliefs."
Exactly.
And they could have just as easily believed in something totally different. We were just lucky to have THAT group of men as Founders.
But that doesn't make our rights God given.
Quote:
Originally Posted by michiganmoon
First of all the Bill of Rights is part of the constitution.
Second of all, the founding fathers disagreed with you that the rights come from the constitution. In fact many founding fathers were weary of protecting rights in the constitution as they thought that it set a precedent of "if a government can write down these rights, they can write them out of existence."
The founding fathers wanted it to be clear that we get our key rights NOT from government and therefore the government cannot take them away justly - hence the Declaration of Independence.
Justly is the key word. But governments can and do take away rights all the time. And if they're God given by an omnipotent being, then i can't imagine why or how they could ever be taken away.
And they could have just as easily believed in something totally different. We were just lucky to have THAT group of men as Founders.
But that doesn't make our rights God given.
That is fine if you disagree with our founding fathers on where are rights come from. What is important is that they claim rights do not come from government - that we have certain rights inherently and that they can't be taken away from us justly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertdetroiter
Justly is the key word. But governments can and do take away rights all the time. And if they're God given by an omnipotent being, then i can't imagine why or how they could ever be taken away.
Well it sounds like you want to debate theology more than government philosophy of the founders.
If freewill exists then people are capable of evil choices including the choice to harm other people. Is government not a collection of people (capable of evil choices)? If men were angels, we would not need government. Hence we need checks and balances for people in government -- including voters holding irresponsible politicians accountable.
Also, the founders didn't think that the government couldn't justly take away any rights - just that government couldn't take away certain fundamental rights.
Justly is the key word. But governments can and do take away rights all the time. And if they're God given by an omnipotent being, then i can't imagine why or how they could ever be taken away.
I am also curious how you would define the word "just." Including in regards to the Old Testament.
And they could have just as easily believed in something totally different. We were just lucky to have THAT group of men as Founders.
But that doesn't make our rights God given.
Justly is the key word. But governments can and do take away rights all the time. And if they're God given by an omnipotent being, then i can't imagine why or how they could ever be taken away.
In the civilized countries of the Middle East, all laws are God's laws.
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