Today at Townhall.com David Harsanyi has an essay entitled If This Is 'Christian Nationalism,' Sign Me Up! Harsanyi is an admitted agnotic. But his point is that whether you believe in God or not, the natural rights theory of the origin of our rights aligns perfectly with Christian and Jewish notions of these rights. I would also note that simple observation of human nature makes these rights, in Thomas Jefferson's words "self evident."
The other day, Politico writer Heidi Przybyla appeared on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes" to talk about the hysteria de jour, "Christian nationalism." Donald Trump, she explained, has surrounded himself with an "extremist element of conservative Christians," who were misrepresenting "so-called natural law" in their attempt to roll back abortion "rights" and other leftist policy preferences. What makes "Christian nationalists" different, she went on, was that they believe "our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don't come from any earthly authority."
As numerous critics have already pointed out, "Christian nationalism" sounds identical to the case for American liberty offered in the Declaration of Independence. Then again, the idea that man has inalienable, universal rights goes back to ancient Greece, at least. The entire American project is contingent on accepting the notion that the state can't give or take our God-given freedoms.
It is the best kind of "extremism."
...snip...
Conservatives often chalk up this kind of ignorance about civics to a declining education system. It's not an accident. But even if progressives were fluent in the philosophy of natural rights, one strongly suspects she, like most progressives (and other statists), would be uninterested. It's a political imperative to be uninterested.
If natural rights are truly inalienable, how can the government create a slew of new (positive) "rights" -- the right to housing or abortion or health care or free birth control? And how can we limit those who "abuse" free expression, self-defense and due process if they are up to no good? You know, as President Joe Biden likes to say -- when speaking about the Second Amendment, never abortion -- no right "is absolute."
Our rights are, in fact, unalienable whether they come from our Creator, or are a natural part of human nature. What are called "positive rights" are things you have a right to if you pay for them. A right to housing? Sure, whatever you can afford. A right to health care? Again, whatever you can pay for. A right to food and to water? Again, whatever you can afford. But you do not have a "right" to abort your child because everyone, including your child in the womb has a right to life.
Harsanyi notes that he chooses to believe in natural rights. I will pray that the Holy Spirit inspires Harsanyi to faith. But as I have already been inspired by the Holy Spirit to faith in Christ by the grace of God, I can not shut up about it. The Bible's admonitions, it turns out, perfectly align not only with natural rights theory, but provide people with the best chance of having a long and prosperous life. The "positive rights" the Left promises are already ours, by virtue of the natural rights. Thus, their promises are empty as shown by countless Communist paradises.
No comments:
Post a Comment