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The American Left vs. God-Given Rights
Townhall.com ^ | August 6, 2014 | Terry Jeffrey

Posted on 08/06/2014 3:48:22 PM PDT by Kaslin

In his opinion declaring Virginia's marriage law unconstitutional, Judge Henry Floyd of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit summarized what he perceived to be the basic disagreement between the opponents and proponents of the law.

"The opponents and proponents agree that marriage is a fundamental right," the judge wrote. "They strongly disagree, however, regarding whether that right encompasses the right to same-sex marriage. The opponents argue that the fundamental right to marry belongs to the individual, who enjoys the right to marry the person of his or her choice. By contrast, the proponents point out that, traditionally, states have sanctioned only man-woman marriages. They contend that, in light of this history, the right to marry does not include a right to same-sex marriage."Neither of these arguments -- as summarized by the judge -- is true. Even if states had historically approved of same-sex marriage, that would not make such marriages a right. After all, some states had historically approved of letting some people hold other people in slavery -- which was not a right, but rather a profound violation of the God-given rights of the people who were enslaved.

The truth is all true rights come from God. If any other power claims to be the author of our rights, that power is attempting to usurp an authority that belongs only to God, and is attacking the only basis for the rule of law that forms the foundation of free societies. Our Founding Fathers rightly said all men are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, rightly said: "A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law."

The problem for the leaders of America's cultural left is that some of the things they demand our society must recognize as "rights" cannot plausibly be held up as God-given rights. Thus, they simply are not rights. Period.

Did God give a doctor the right to lacerate to death an innocent child in her mother's womb? Or pull her feet first from that womb and then puncture her skull? Of course not. Did God give two men or two women a "right" to marry one another and then adopt children with the approval of the state? If two people of the same sex do have a right to marry and take custody of children, then, as this column argued last week, children cannot be deemed to have a right to a mother and a father. Which is more likely: That a baby has a God-given right to a mother, or that two men have a God-given right to marry one another and then secure a child through, for example, the paid services of a surrogate mother?

America's cultural left not only wants this nation to recognize as rights things that are not rights, but to abridge rights that are truly God-given and inalienable. Does a Christian family that owns a business have a God-given right not to be forced by the government into complicity in the taking of an innocent human life? The Obama administration does not think so. It fought the owners of Hobby Lobby all the way to the Supreme Court on this question, and continues to fight multiple lawsuits aimed at cementing into our law the power of the government to force people to pay for other people's abortion-inducing drugs. Because it is so implausible to argue that men are endowed by their Creator with a right to kill unborn children, or a right to marry people of the same sex, America's cultural left is moving away from the founding principal spelt out in our Declaration of Independence.

What will they replace it with? Their own arbitrary power.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: decofindependence; familyvalues; foundingfathers; gaymarriage; rights

1 posted on 08/06/2014 3:48:22 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
Founding fathers and gays
2 posted on 08/06/2014 3:51:22 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: SandRat

Very good article.

This is why the left feels it can attack all rights, because they don’t recognize them as God given.

For example, the 2nd amendment was originally understood as a God given right.

“The right of a citizen to bear arms, in lawful defense of himself or the State, is absolute. He does not derive it from the State government. It is one of the “high powers” delegated directly to the citizen, and `is excepted out of the general powers of government.’ A law cannot be passed to infringe upon or impair it, because it is above the law, and independent of the lawmaking power.” [Cockrum v. State, 24 Tex. 394, at 401-402 (1859)]

The left believes all rights are conferred by the government, and can be taken away or given as the government imposes itself on the people.

There are no God given rights.


3 posted on 08/06/2014 3:57:22 PM PDT by ForYourChildren (Christian Education [ RomanRoadsMedia.com - a Classical Christian Approach to Homeschool])
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To: Kaslin

if the US is supporting fags and fag lifestyle then I have no interest in living in the country

once it’s coast to coast, I’m gone


4 posted on 08/06/2014 4:05:01 PM PDT by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: Kaslin

Pseudo-rights are created for one purpose and one purpose only, to trump real rights. It is their hallmark


5 posted on 08/06/2014 4:06:44 PM PDT by Entropy Squared (The Rush to Chaos)
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To: SandRat

BTTT


6 posted on 08/06/2014 4:15:47 PM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Good article.

I would add that there is no “right” to marry for anyone. I cannot demand my right to have a ‘wife’.

That is an agreement between 2 people, and if I can’t find another person to agree to being my spouse, then I certainly can’t have the law force someone to be my spouse.


7 posted on 08/06/2014 4:19:20 PM PDT by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
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To: xzins

Very well said


8 posted on 08/06/2014 4:28:27 PM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Entropy Squared
Pseudo: Not real or genuine.

That's all we need to know

9 posted on 08/06/2014 4:31:29 PM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: ForYourChildren
"This is why the left feels it can attack all rights, because they don’t recognize them as God given."

Regardless of that, the authors of the Constitution believed - as did the vast majority of people in virtually all civilizations known to history - that marriage was a union between people of the opposite sex, regardless of whether marriage was considered to be monogamous or polygamous. The belief that laws based on distinctions of sex are legitimate was fundamental to the framers' worldview, and cannot therefore be considered unconstitutional if we accept the principle of original intent. Changes in public morality can be implemented through changes in the law voted on by the people or by Congress, but to judicially mandate these changes in the name of the Constitution destroys the rule of law.
10 posted on 08/06/2014 5:15:58 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Kaslin

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of a penis.”


11 posted on 08/06/2014 5:32:48 PM PDT by Misterioso (America is the living refutation of a Kantian universe. -- Ayn Rand)
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