Endowed by Our Creator
Click here to get Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority by Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan.
Some pre-4th thoughts on the fundamentals of America:
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) – This Saturday is the 4th of July, the day when people will gather all over the United States of America to celebrate Independence. Fireworks will light up the sky, families will gather and we will all pause to remember those who gave their lives so that the promises set forth in that Declaration of Independence could inform a new Nation. Their courageous Declaration, signed on this date proclaimed:
“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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men”
The Declaration of Independence was the birth certificate of the United States of America. The words are still memorized by schoolchildren and can bring a tear to the oldest American eye with little effort. The principles they communicate have informed our history as a free people and inspired our neighbors in other parts of the world to stand up against all forms of tyranny. As we reflect upon the text this weekend we need to remember that our forebears were not declaring their independence from Divine Providence. Rather, they were trusting in the primacy of the Governance of God over their own lives and their noble undertaking.
Created equal and endowed by their Creator – this is central; because if we are not created equal and if our rights are not endowed by God – and thus irrevocable by human action – then we are not at all equal, and we have no rights save those a tyrant chooses to allow. If our Declaration had said, “We hold these opinions to be valid, that all men are equal, that they are allowed by Nature to have certain Rights”, it would have been an absurd statement…nothing men would be willing to die for. Might as well have Washington and Co. fold up the tents and go home…but if we are fighting to secure what God gave us, then no sacrifice is too great, and nor argument can be made against us and only force could compel us to give in.
People can quibble about whether or not America is a Christian nation – but that 99% or better of the men who shed their blood to found the nation were Christian cannot be disputed. And these Christian heroes gave their lives not for an abstraction thought up by some clever intellectual cobweb spinner, but for the concrete reality that God gave them certain things which others were trying to take away. So it was then, and so it is today – and so it will always be, until the End.
Thank you for visiting Blogs For Victory. If you enjoy our content, please consider making a donation to help us cover the costs of our servers.Mark Noonan is co-author (with Matt Margolis) of Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority. He also blogs at Nevada News and Views. Follow Mark on Twitter.
14 Responses to “Endowed by Our Creator”
Caucus of Corruption
I am so happy that you finally acknowledge that your rights come directly fromo the Flying spaghetti Monster…
If this is what it takes to keep you sane and harmless during the day and get you to sleep at night Mark then no problem mate, no problem at all.
A man can no more dimish GOD’s GLORY by refusing to worship HIM than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word “darkness” on the walls of his cell.
Our founding fathers knew this to be true. And truth just scares the GODLESS.
PS: If you look in your state constitution……betcha find GOD there.
Yo Mark, I think that I can dispute the “99% or better” of the men who sacrificed for this country were Christians. Keep in mind that the US was not only a beacon for oppressed Christian sects, but also for Jews, deists, secularists, and other religious minorities. In fact, several of the founding fathers (like Jefferson and Washington, the latter of which would regularly leave church without taking communion) were deists and at least one of them (Franklin) was an open atheist. Later, Lincoln was a great critic of organized religion. Don’t discount the contributions that secularists and secular thinking have made to our country.
Besides, it does our country and, in turn, all of the people who fought and died for it, a great disservice to credit some supernatural being with its successes.
After all, what country in history hasn’t begged some god for success and prosperity, and that god has proven inconsistent at best, if he exists at all.
ranafuerte,
Franklin wasn’t an atheist. Re-check your sources and get back to me.
french,
And you, it seems, believe that they come from the State – and what the State has granted you, the State can take away from you…your life and your liberty. I’d rather hold to the truth of the matter rather than hold to some sort of recycled Prussian philosophy.
Not the state. society. There is more to society than the state. If these rights were given by an omnipotent deity, then there would be no need for humans to enforce these rights, would there? Murder would be impossible, enslavement too, and everybody could look for hapiness unfettered.
Now, this is evidently not the case.
Can my rights be taken away? Yes. The rights of millions of individuals are being taken away as we speak, in other regions of the globe. China and North Korea come to mind, but there are several parts of the world where slavery still exists, even if it is hidden in the form of debts that can never be repaid.
This is why it is the job of every one of us to fight for these rights. If they were granted by an omnipotent being, there would be no need to fight for them, would there? So it is our job to shape society in a way that makes it possible for everyone to enjoy these rights, and as many additional rights as can fit. The right not to get bankrupted because of medical expenses (we have it, you don’t). The right to bear arms (you have it, we don’t. Personnaly I think my right to bear arms is precluded by my right not to get shot by the neighbour, so I don’t mind much, and I study partial arts), the right to choose our leader (we both have it. some don’t), the right to marry the person you love (since it does not encroach on anybody else’s rights. One could even say that it is a corollary to the right to poursue one’s happiness).
The phrases you are quoting are great, and come from great men. But it does not make them true in every particular. A god is not necessary for the universe to work, and there is no credible evidence for anything supernatural, nor any need for anything supernatural. There is the unknown, yes. But to fill the unknown with the idea of a god is intellectually lazy in the extreme.
And by the way, I could show you my creators. I call them Mom and Dad. They don’t have superpowers.
french,
What is your argument against society deciding you should be a slave?
I would fight it. Because my conscience tells me to. And don’t go saying my conscience is the voice of god. If it were it would not change from individual to individual, homophobes would not in conscience oppose homosexuality (or everyone would be homophobic), and all religions would have the same moral rules, which clearly they do not..
But if my right not to be a slave was endowed to me by an omnipotent being, I would not have to fight to keep it. No-one would have to. And some do.
And besides, what is your argument against your god deciding that slavery is once again fashionable, like inn deuteronomy times? that mass murder is a good thing, mlike in old-testament times?
What makes you believe another prophet has not been sent? Hey, according to the muslims, you’re observing out-of-dates rites!
french,
Certainly you would fight against it as you’re on the short end of the stick…but what is your argument against, say, 60% of the population voting to enslave the other 40%? Or for 90% voting to kill the other 10%? Or 51% to vote the property of the other 49% into their own hands?
french,
My argument against slavery is based on my conviction that God created us all equal – as no one is my better and no one my inferior, I have no right to hold someone to service against their will. This is a better understanding which is brought to us by Our Lord, who fulfilled the Law. I appeal to Truth, you appeal to yourself…and if it came down to a fight for our liberty, more would rally to my banner than to yours because I’ve got an argument, you’ve just got a preference…
And more fools would gather to the banner of anyone making the religious argument. Look at the amount of stupid scientology spouts, and it still gets followers. Followers are no garantee of truth.
The thing is, you are making what is called an argument from authority. But your authority is safely unable to speak, has an alleged past as a serial murderer, and its existence cannot even be proven.
Whereas I appeal to the fundamentals of what makes us humans.