Because atheists do not believe in a God of Nature or a Creator, the Declaration of Independence does not apply to them? They do not subscribe to those beliefs, so they are still British citizens? My brother will be tickled to hear that and so will the guys he fights beside. His passport is all wrong!!! Perhaps the next time he gets a speeding ticket, he can use this argument.
I think Thomas Jefferson would disagree with you. I believe the Founding Fathers would welcome my brother and all other America-loving atheist patriots in with open arms.
I never said it didn't apply to them. They are the beneficiaries of the theistic thought process that recognizes Nature's God endows all men with certain unalienable rights. Our founders were quite adamant about that, and it's precisely because they held that those rights were ordained by a power greater than and above men and governments. The reason they believed that atheists were every bit as entitled to the same rights as theists is precisely because they believed in a divine source of those rights, and no man or government dare impede or trample them.
" They do not subscribe to those beliefs, so they are still British citizens?"
That's absurd and has no relevance whatsoever to anything I've said.
"My brother will be tickled to hear that and so will the guys he fights beside."
While they're laughing why not ask them if they believe in unalienable rights. If so, ask where they think they come from.
"I think Thomas Jefferson would disagree with you. I believe the Founding Fathers would welcome my brother and all other America-loving atheist patriots in with open arms."
Would that be the same Jefferson that said, "The god who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them"?
You're becoming overly emotional. I've never said an atheist couldn't be a good, productive American citizen. I've never said an atheist couldn't love America to the point of giving his or her life in defense of her. I would give my life in defense of the synagogue down the street, but that doesn't make me Jewish.
I do however, define a patriot as one who fully embraces the principles, goals, objectives and ideals of his/her country. In the terms of the USA, that means acknowledging a power that rules over all nature and grants men with unalienable rights. It needn't be specifically "God" in a traditional Judeo-Christian construct. It may be something more in a Deist or transcendentalist tradition, etc., but if one is to fully embrace the beliefs of our founders, and what they chose to declare and pledge to defend with their lives, fortunes and sacred honors, one simply has to accept an immutable, eternal, transcendent source of such rights. There is nothing in a traditional atheistic worldview that allows for or accepts such as a possibility.
Again, detach yourself from your emotions. I'm sure your brother is a fine fellow who has served honorably (and almost assuredly stated "So Help Me God" in either his commissioning or enlistment oath). The fact is, if he does not perceive our rights as having been bestowed upon us from a higher power, he does not share the same view our founders. There's simply no way around that.