Do Atheists Still Have God-Given Rights?
Or are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness off the table?
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I’ve been losing sleep over this. My brain may be a weird place but it’s also a logical one. Be careful what you say to me. I will spend far more time thinking about it than is reasonable.
In the last week, I have heard people mention their God-given rights more times than I ever imagined I would. It’s begging one huge question: If our founding fathers recognized rights given by a Creator, what happens if we don’t believe in that Creator? Do the rights then not exist?
I’m trying to work through this and it’s hurting my brain.
As a disclaimer, I’m not an atheist. I’m agnostic. That means that I don’t necessarily believe in God per se. I see the Bible as a book with a few solid lessons, not all to be taken seriously. It’s not unlike other books with philosophical teachings.
I mean, I like Henry David Thoreau and what he had to say but I’m not trading in my three-bedroom house for a shack-like cabin by a lake. Just as I am all on board with not working on the Sabbath but don’t think anyone should be stoned to death for doing it. That seems a little extreme. Just my take.
I’m cool with the idea of spirituality but mas o menos on God.
This is different than being an atheist that firmly believes there is no God. So let’s go back to the question:
If God is the one granting us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, do atheists not have these rights since they deny the existence of the person dolling out the rights?
It would seem, logically, that the answer to the question is no. But then there’s this whole governmental assurance. This is where it gets really dicey and convoluted.
There is a local councilman in Arizona that contended that he would not support a city mandate that people wear masks in public because he feels the government is there to secure our God-given rights, including running around all willy nilly and maskless. This connects our legislative body to the generosity of…
