[tortoise]

God--->natural law---->US Constitution. Take away God, and the Constitution is meaningless.

And exactly how does God make the Constitution meaningful? Replacing "God" with "BillyBob" would achieve the same result. The Constitution doesn't have any intrinsic meaning beyond that which people are willing to enforce with guns. I think the Constitution is a fine, well-written protocol that can stand on its own merits. Its existence doesn't need to be justified.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

And exactly how does God make the Constitution meaningful? Replacing "God" with "BillyBob" would achieve the same result. The Constitution doesn't have any intrinsic meaning beyond that which people are willing to enforce with guns. I think the Constitution is a fine, well-written protocol that can stand on its own merits. Its existence doesn't need to be justified.

The power of natural law comes from the fact that it's given to man by a higher power than man. Man didn't create natural law, otherwise man could change it.

All rights come from natural law. That's why they're inalienable---because they don't come from man (who can take them away), they come from a higher power: God.

That's what makes the Constitution waterproof. It appeals to a reason higher than man's for validity. It only succeeds in its appeal if you believe in natural law. If you believe in natural law, you believe in God. Case closed.

[RonF]

"Take away God, and the Constitution is meaningless."

The Preamble for the Constitution states:

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. "

These are the principles on which the justification for the existence of the Constitution is based. God is not invoked. Earlier documents that invoke God are not referenced. God is not mentioned in the Constitution. The only authority mentioned, or apparently needed, are "We the People". So, I don't see the logic of your statement.