In his recent Attleboro, MA “Sun Chronicle” newspaper column, Mr. Ruark presented a very bizarre and terribly misleading exposition of the Declaration of Independence. He wrote in his column that “the Declaration claims that ‘men’ (human beings) have rights simply by virtue of being human beings.” How true, but he then proceeded to undermine the role of “their Creator” in the bestowing of those rights, by dismissing Him as being impersonal, and a mere product of the philosophical idea of deism. He then further sought to diminish the Creator by writing that “the Declaration does not say that all rights come from a ‘Creator’ – only ‘certain unalienable ones’ – and does not list all of the ones that do.” Apparently, Mr. Ruark is claiming that there are other rights men possess and are entitled to which have nothing to do with God.
He then asserted that, “The Constitution never mentions or requires a particular view of the origins of our rights… If it could be shown that God did not exist, or if we were a nation of atheists, we would still be endowed with rights.” But without God, where do they come from? In spite of Mr. Ruark’s assertion, that’s still a supremely important question. The system of checks and balances in the Constitution was a recognition by the founders of the reality that man left unchecked is capable of the worst abuses of power, often motivated by appalling selfish ambition. The need for a constitution in the first place is an acknowledgment of the Biblical record of man’s rebellious and fallen condition.
Mr. Ruark even categorized the idea of “God-given-rights” as “dangerous to democracy, liberty and the rights of others.” And so, in a few sentences, Mr. Ruark simply dismissed God as a personal Creator and law-giver, and declared that the Declaration of Independence is essentially irrelevant and disconnected from the Constitution. Welcome to the Orwellian new order where God, history and words are cancelled or redefined!
In fact, it is widely recognized that our founders, Jefferson in particular, were influenced by William Blackstone's (1723-80) “Commentaries on the Laws of England.” Blackstone wrote in the introduction, “Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his creator, for he is entirely a dependent being… And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his maker's will… This will of his maker is called the law of nature… The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the holy scriptures.” The expression “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence clearly demonstrates Blackstone’s influence on Jefferson and others.
Quotations from the founders are readily available, and in many of them there are references to God’s sovereign providence in the course of human affairs. That acknowledgment by them clearly points to their understanding of God as personal, very active in the events of the world, and One to whom men can and should pray. The Constitution of Massachusetts, primarily written by founder John Adams, states, “It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe.” Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs the World by his Providence. That he ought to be worshiped.” To write off the founders as just deists only therefore, is misleading, naïve and dangerously dismissive. Their beliefs in God cannot be reduced to mere simplistic theological or philosophical categories.
Mr. Ruark’s argument for man’s autonomy from God as our Creator and lawgiver is in fact the real threat to “democracy, liberty and the rights of others” because the determination of rights is then left to those with the most power, who then attempt to force their views on those who disagree. Once God as a personal and providentially active Creator is cancelled along with His laws, we’re left with what Jefferson feared and then termed as, “elective despotism.” And this is all done under the euphemism of “unity” which really means conformity in the new order.
Before the founding fathers are entirely cancelled, or I’m interred at a re-programming camp because I and tens of millions of Americans “who elected and enabled this president (Trump) are more a threat to America than Donald Trump” (as Mr. Gouveia outrageously asserted in his column), I’ll quote James Madison who wrote, “It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it (the Constitution) a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.”
He then asserted that, “The Constitution never mentions or requires a particular view of the origins of our rights… If it could be shown that God did not exist, or if we were a nation of atheists, we would still be endowed with rights.” But without God, where do they come from? In spite of Mr. Ruark’s assertion, that’s still a supremely important question. The system of checks and balances in the Constitution was a recognition by the founders of the reality that man left unchecked is capable of the worst abuses of power, often motivated by appalling selfish ambition. The need for a constitution in the first place is an acknowledgment of the Biblical record of man’s rebellious and fallen condition.
Mr. Ruark even categorized the idea of “God-given-rights” as “dangerous to democracy, liberty and the rights of others.” And so, in a few sentences, Mr. Ruark simply dismissed God as a personal Creator and law-giver, and declared that the Declaration of Independence is essentially irrelevant and disconnected from the Constitution. Welcome to the Orwellian new order where God, history and words are cancelled or redefined!
In fact, it is widely recognized that our founders, Jefferson in particular, were influenced by William Blackstone's (1723-80) “Commentaries on the Laws of England.” Blackstone wrote in the introduction, “Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his creator, for he is entirely a dependent being… And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his maker's will… This will of his maker is called the law of nature… The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the holy scriptures.” The expression “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence clearly demonstrates Blackstone’s influence on Jefferson and others.
Quotations from the founders are readily available, and in many of them there are references to God’s sovereign providence in the course of human affairs. That acknowledgment by them clearly points to their understanding of God as personal, very active in the events of the world, and One to whom men can and should pray. The Constitution of Massachusetts, primarily written by founder John Adams, states, “It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe.” Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs the World by his Providence. That he ought to be worshiped.” To write off the founders as just deists only therefore, is misleading, naïve and dangerously dismissive. Their beliefs in God cannot be reduced to mere simplistic theological or philosophical categories.
Mr. Ruark’s argument for man’s autonomy from God as our Creator and lawgiver is in fact the real threat to “democracy, liberty and the rights of others” because the determination of rights is then left to those with the most power, who then attempt to force their views on those who disagree. Once God as a personal and providentially active Creator is cancelled along with His laws, we’re left with what Jefferson feared and then termed as, “elective despotism.” And this is all done under the euphemism of “unity” which really means conformity in the new order.
Before the founding fathers are entirely cancelled, or I’m interred at a re-programming camp because I and tens of millions of Americans “who elected and enabled this president (Trump) are more a threat to America than Donald Trump” (as Mr. Gouveia outrageously asserted in his column), I’ll quote James Madison who wrote, “It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it (the Constitution) a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.”