Just because someone proclaims something to be self-evident doesn’t mean it is. If it were, it wouldn’t have taken thousands of years to identify. Remember, that which the Founding Fathers were declaring self-evident WASN’T Christianity. It was the idea that man has this list of rights.
Rights are derived either from the minds of men, or from the mind of God.
If from men, they are applicable either equally or unequally to each individual, being dependent in an existential sense on the opinions of men.
If from God, they are applicable equally to all men, so that no opinion from any man can affect their essential nature.