I think that, in a way, a lot on the left have replaced God with the government. Ask a public sector employee where he thinks his salary, benefits and pension come from, and he will invariably say “the government.” But the funds come from the people, and the supply of money is not infinite.
exactly right. Government has been placed on the throne.
I’m not at all disagreeing with your comment, but I think the problem is even more profound than you suggest. Paraphrasing from your comment, ‘Ask any athiest or American-liberal intellectual where he thinks his rights come from, and he will invariably say “the government”’.
The ideology of American-style liberalism explicitly rejects the concept of “God-given rights” and asserts that rights are created and conveyed by government. That’s why American-style liberals have no probrem with so-called positive liberties such as rights to a job, a house, education, health care, old age incomes and other unearned welfare programs, etc. When the government declares the existence of a particular right such as a subsidized mortgage, and it springs into existence. When the government rescinds a right such as free speech, and it no longer exists.
The fool who says in heart that there is no God then searchs for some entity by which he can validate his own godless existence and justify rights. Being a fool, the athiest more often than not he chooses government to serve such ends.