Unalienable Confusion
"...that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
Most of you could tell me this is a quote from the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Those of you that couldn't should be ashamed. But this isn't a history lecture.
I find myself questioning the category in which these three items are placed. They are called "unalienable Rights" "endowed by [the] Creator." Further, it is to be "self-evident" that these rights exist. So, according to our highly Enlightened Founding Fathers, an observer should be able to find proof that every man has the God-given right to live, be free from outside control, and act in the way that seems most likely to bring happiness.
What is a right? I think the best definition I can give it is a valid claim of authority or justice. That is, I have a right only so far as I have legitimate reason to act or expect others to act in a certain way. I can claim to have the authority to drive any vehicle in the parking lot outside my dorm, but a higher authority has determined that only the person whose name is on the title has the right to drive that vehicle. So my claim, because it lacked validity, could not be a right.
A right, then, is granted by a higher authority. Thomas Jefferson, writing the Declaration, called that higher authority "their Creator." Make that higher authority whatever you want—chance (I know, it's not really an entity), God, evolution, Allah, cosmic energy—and my question remains. Do we really have these supposed rights?
Allow me to focus on just one of the three rights—the right to liberty. Why does man claim this right? What self-evident justification is there for claiming this right? Americans certainly believe in this right. We can see that both because it is in our nation's founding
documents and because it drives so much of our society. From my extremely limited experience with the rest of the world, I get the idea that just about everyone feels that way. No person feels his or her rights only allow them to be a slave. Everyone longs for freedom and sees it as injustice if such freedom is not granted.
Consider The Matrix. (I've only seen it once, and that was a while ago, so forgive me if I'm a little fuzzy on the details.) We all responded with horror when we discovered every human was living in a fluid-filled pouch with his perception of reality being constructed by a computer. We jumped on the cause of the few enlightened ones who were trying to free the enslaved human race.
Why?
Every human in the pouch had his needs being met. Two of the three fundamental rights were being granted, for they were certainly given life and the ability to pursue whatever vision of happiness pleased them. Yet we all feel they are having their rights violated because they, unknown to them, are enslaved. Is freedom really a right? Are we so arrogant as to claim we are free from any outside control?
Where does such a false determination of a right come from, then? I wonder if we losing this false sense of having a right to liberty would make mankind a more united body. Rather than fight all seen and unseen oppressors, we could unify to achieve something significant in our controlled state.
Here's to paradigm shift!
Most of you could tell me this is a quote from the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Those of you that couldn't should be ashamed. But this isn't a history lecture.
I find myself questioning the category in which these three items are placed. They are called "unalienable Rights" "endowed by [the] Creator." Further, it is to be "self-evident" that these rights exist. So, according to our highly Enlightened Founding Fathers, an observer should be able to find proof that every man has the God-given right to live, be free from outside control, and act in the way that seems most likely to bring happiness.What is a right? I think the best definition I can give it is a valid claim of authority or justice. That is, I have a right only so far as I have legitimate reason to act or expect others to act in a certain way. I can claim to have the authority to drive any vehicle in the parking lot outside my dorm, but a higher authority has determined that only the person whose name is on the title has the right to drive that vehicle. So my claim, because it lacked validity, could not be a right.
A right, then, is granted by a higher authority. Thomas Jefferson, writing the Declaration, called that higher authority "their Creator." Make that higher authority whatever you want—chance (I know, it's not really an entity), God, evolution, Allah, cosmic energy—and my question remains. Do we really have these supposed rights?
Allow me to focus on just one of the three rights—the right to liberty. Why does man claim this right? What self-evident justification is there for claiming this right? Americans certainly believe in this right. We can see that both because it is in our nation's founding
documents and because it drives so much of our society. From my extremely limited experience with the rest of the world, I get the idea that just about everyone feels that way. No person feels his or her rights only allow them to be a slave. Everyone longs for freedom and sees it as injustice if such freedom is not granted.Consider The Matrix. (I've only seen it once, and that was a while ago, so forgive me if I'm a little fuzzy on the details.) We all responded with horror when we discovered every human was living in a fluid-filled pouch with his perception of reality being constructed by a computer. We jumped on the cause of the few enlightened ones who were trying to free the enslaved human race.
Why?
Every human in the pouch had his needs being met. Two of the three fundamental rights were being granted, for they were certainly given life and the ability to pursue whatever vision of happiness pleased them. Yet we all feel they are having their rights violated because they, unknown to them, are enslaved. Is freedom really a right? Are we so arrogant as to claim we are free from any outside control?
Where does such a false determination of a right come from, then? I wonder if we losing this false sense of having a right to liberty would make mankind a more united body. Rather than fight all seen and unseen oppressors, we could unify to achieve something significant in our controlled state.
Here's to paradigm shift!
At 11:08 PM,
Ok, so tomorrow I graduate from college, and yet I still am totally confused by this current post? Do you think you could put it in "Katie terms". I think I know what you're saying, and I think I even agree, but I am just a bit confused.
At 6:07 PM,
I do believe that man tends to be "so arrogant as to claim we are free from any outside control". It is human nature to want to be in control. we tend to do what WE want instead of what God wants. Galatians 4:8-10 says "Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." however, we know that we can have freedom in Christ...but many times, we choose bondage. why? i would think that you are right. we SAY we want liberty. but our actions, including the disunity that you inferred, is screaming "bondage". these rights exist. they are self-evident. the founding fathers were right.
At 2:26 PM,
Thanks for the feedback, but apparently I didn't explain myself very well. My question is Why do we feel we have a right to be free?
At 12:04 AM,
I think we feel we have a RIGHT to be free because in today's world we have a right to everything. We have a right to spend as much money as we want even if we don't pay it off. We have a right to have a huge home even if we never spend time in it. We have a right to say what we want and do what we want no matter what anyone else might think. We have a right to have the latest and greatest of every thing out there. We have a right to (put you're in here). I think the problem with American's today is that we think we have a right to anything we want or the right to not have anything we don't want. There are too many people out there that have no concept of what hard work, real pride, and satisfaction are. People think freedom is a right and I should get it because I always get what I want, and yet they forget what a sacrifice this freedom was and IS! If we want something that is worth anything we need to be willing to work for it.
At 12:21 PM,
I think we have no rights. We have privileges. We have opportunities. We have abilities. I think this view changes the attitude. Instead of grumbling about what we can't have, we rejoice in what we do have. Demands turn to thankfulness. Honestly, as Christians, are we deserving of any rights?
At 5:07 PM,
i completely agree with heather!
At 4:46 PM,
I'm Pickin up what you are laying down.
The Founding Fathers had a much clearer theology in mind than those who claim to be secularists and now interpret the freedom of man so broadly. The rights were deliniated and proscribed by the creator, so those rights only apply to those outside of the creatorly realm. God and man are separated by this gulf, God created all things, and man is a created being. Our founding fathers were for the most part clear on the authority of the Creator God, and sought to protect mankind, or at least our little American slice of that pie, from those other created beings who have taken the authority of God upon themselves, but their intent was not to protect man from the demands of the creator.
God does not believe in Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, etc. He demands that we worship and conduct our lives in a way consistent with His nature! Those rights are only in force in the realm of the created.
Since most secularism is based in Humanism, or the religion of placing Man into the position of God, their view is at once in direct conflict with the true nature of the statement, "by their creator" Since their broad view of freedoms seeks to eliminate even the claims of the Lord of Heaven and Earth.