Intro:
Jefferson tangled with this as he drafted the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
Was Jefferson playing "Deist" here?
The Creator "established rationally comprehensible moral and natural laws", but otherwise abstains?
Unfortunately jdog isn't here to clarify or defend."... the concept of inalienable or natural rights is not dependent on religion in any way. In fact the concept of God is an individual perception, and is different for different people. To a Pantheist, the entire Universe is God and therefore their rights are given by nature itself." jdog 17/07/04
Jefferson tangled with this as he drafted the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
If human rights are "Creator endowed", then atheists have no rights."... 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, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed... " TJ / DOI
So the genocide of some aboriginal American nations is overlooked because the vanquished natives couldn't compete on the battlefield?"They have rights who dare maintain them." -- James Russell Lowell
Was Jefferson playing "Deist" here?
The Creator "established rationally comprehensible moral and natural laws", but otherwise abstains?
de·ism (dēĭz′əm, dā-) n. A religious belief holding that God created the universe and established rationally comprehensible moral and natural laws but does not intervene in human affairs through miracles or supernatural revelation. [French déisme, from Latin deus, god; see dyeu- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. |