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Right Wing Terrorists Arrested in Plot to Murder Judge, State Troopers

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Nyet3/11/2011 1:43:27 pm PST

The idea that the rights are God-given is incoherent.

If these rights are not safe-guarded by God (and they’re aren’t because rights are violated on a continuous basis), in which way is the phrase “God-given rights” is meaningful? These rights don’t grow on trees, you can’t touch them, they’re just ideas. They don’t begin to exist unless they’re agreed on by humans. But they can be agreed on by humans without being God-given either. So God is an unnecessary link.

The idea that the rights are God-given is also dangerous.

What God? Christian God? If so, then only the Christian-delineated norms are to be enforced? Let’s take a single example. If we read the Bible we will see quite a restrictive sexual morality, with lots of activity being prohibited. So if we’re to follow the “God-given” rights logic in this context, then there is no right for two adults to engage in consensual sexual relations. (Look at history.) The same can be applied to other Gods and some other rights.

So “God” is quite a poor basis for human rights even aside from the grave problem of lack of evidence of existence.