In 1776, thirteen colonies of England changed the course of history forever with the signing of one document: the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence reads as a legal indictment against the King of England and the government of the crown. It details twenty-seven specific grievances after laying the foundation for the right of the colonies to dissolve its ties with England. But what is most interesting to me is the foundation by which this case is built. That foundation is the Creator, God by who humans receive their rights. The argument goes like this:
Since we have been created by our Creator, and this Creator made us equal and furthermore created us with certain irrevocable rights which are life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; we have the right to form and dissolve governments as required to protect those rights from being violated.
To establish these rights, Thomas Jefferson [1] goes back to our Creator God [2]. Thereby building a solid foundation of rock for which human rights can be established as existing outside of government. This is a huge change, before which basic human rights where established by the government and now Thomas Jefferson is stating they are established by God and to be protected by government. This fact has been the basis of all freedom.
“For there is no authority except from God, and those [governments] that exist have been instituted by God[3].”
Atheism and Freedom
However, this presents a problem for the Atheist. A logical question becomes; if there is no Creator where do our rights come from? If Jefferson’s argument is false at any one point then it becomes false that we have the right to form a government or remove ourselves from an oppressive one. If we do not have a Creator, then we may not all be equal, and if we are not all equal, then we do not all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, we see this logic played out in the atheist world view with mass abortions committed every week in this country. A whole segment of our society does not have access to these rights: the unborn American.
The end result of such a world view has horrific consequences. It then becomes a world of “might makes right” and “majority opinion rules” without the rights of the minority protected. The foundations of human rights rest solely in the Creator. It is Christ Jesus that is that foundation. Our godless society has built a self-refuting house on the sands of opinion. The amazing thing is that the occupants of this house do not realize the futility of their world view. That is, unless the glasses of atheism are replaced with a gospel lens. [pullquote]It is the gospel that moves a person from the house on the sand to the house built on the rock.[/pullquote] Do not become angry with others who live in this false world of atheism. Instead, humble yourself to them and show compassion for them through the gospel of Christ. By the grace of God they can celebrate independence from sin and have the assurance of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as their Creator intended.Footnotes[1] Thomas Jefferson is generally claimed as the author of the Declaration of Independence. While he did write most of the language its development was through the work of a five person committee; Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson.[2] It should be noted that Thomas Jefferson’s concept of God was a heretical view in line with Unitarianism. He rejected the divinity of Christ. However, for the purpose of this post his concept of a creator/god was still antithetic to atheism.[3] Romans 13:1b English Standard Version