We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. - Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
Almost 231 years later, these truths seem hardly to be “self-evident.” Vocal atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have recently pointed out the futility in assuming that we have a Creator. (They are both British, so perhaps their opinions should not matter much in this conversation.) Many of the authors and signatories of the Declaration owned human beings as property, calling into question how “equal” they believed “all men” actually were and how much right to “Liberty” they believed “all men” actually had. Debates over war, the death penalty, abortion, and euthanasia demonstrate that “Life” is a more complicated right than it might initially seem, and postmodernism, deconstructionism, and basic psychology argue that “truth” is in the eye of the beholder. Even high school sophomores breezily announce, “What’s true for you isn’t true for me,” as if this was an obvious and self-evident fact. Of everything stated here, only the “pursuit of Happiness” continues to be universally accepted as an unalienable right by the people of these United States.
Is it any wonder that Americans are known globally for our rampant consumerism, the pursuit of Happiness-with-a-capital-H raised to an ungodly pitch? It’s stated right there in our founding document. It’s given as one of the fundamental purposes for creating our nation and announcing our independence: the right to be “Happy.” We’ve traveled from throwing off King George to coveting the new iPhone in less than two-and-a-half centuries.
It strikes me that the Bible speaks very little of “rights.” Even the section entitled “The Rights of an Apostle” in the NIV (1 Cor 9), though Paul does assert what he is owed by the Corinthian church, is more about the rights that Paul has willfully given up for the sake of the gospel. To be like Christ, Paul urges the Corinthians, is to abandon claims to freedom.
What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it. Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. (1 Cor 9:18-19)
In The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity, Iain Benson writes,
The Scriptures speak so little about rights that it would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that “rights” are not a scriptural concept. What the Scriptures speak of are duties and justice” “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic 6:8).
Can we imagine an alternate history in which Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams had composed a Declaration of Dependence, announcing our new nation’s dependence upon God?
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to bind themselves with one another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the dependent and humble station to which God and the Laws of God call them, a proper reverence for the revelation of their Lord requires that they should declare what He has shown them to be good.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created in the image of God, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Responsibilities, that among these are to act Justly, to love Mercy, and to walk humbly with their God…”
Posted in American Values |
