Editor’s note: “Matters of faith” is a column that provides local religious leaders a place to write about how their respective faiths provide hope, courage and strength in these modern times.
Do you think you have religious rights? If you do, where do you think those rights come from? Are they rights that the government grants to you, or do you believe a “right to faith” is yours regardless of what the government thinks?
I imagine that there are many people who are uncomfortable when I talk about an authority that exceeds the laws of man. If that is the case, then they may not be totally comfortable with this article, but then again, the rights I fight for are as much for them as for everyone else. Still, as much as I try, I cannot please everyone.
The other day I caught a discussion on a mainstream news program, wherein a reporter was debating with a Supreme Court judge from Georgia about rights and laws. The newsman was arguing that rights are granted by laws, whereas the judge was arguing that rights supersede laws.
They began to argue over “organic law,” and since I’m not a farmer I began to lose interest (I’m just joking), but I hung in there. I began to understand that organic law has to do with the foundational principles upon which our nation is based, and these are found in our founding documents.
Our first document from which our foundational principles flow is the Declaration of Independence. Chronologically, it is the first document that sets forth our nation’s organic laws.
In the Declaration of Independence it states that all people have certain inalienable rights. The Declaration of Independence further states that such rights are divinely issued, and are therefore beyond the laws of man to change.
One thing that intrigued me about the argument was the reporter stated that rights arise from law. In other words, the rights that the people in a nation enjoy are conferred to them through the process of the government granting those rights. The reason that intrigued me was because he, and many in our nation who share some of the same ideological views, would argue vehemently that many oppressive nations around the world are taking away the human rights of their citizens.
The inconsistency and apparent hypocrisy of his argument struck me. If rights arise from law, then we cannot accuse Iran, or China, or Russia, or any other oppressive regime, of taking away the rights of their citizens, because those governments are simply acting in accordance with their laws. Unless people within our nation want to claim that our laws are the standards from which all rights arise, then we cannot say that other nations are suppressing human rights. But even if we want to claim our laws as standards, if we argue that rights come from law, then why wouldn’t every country have the same authority to set their rights by law?
The truth is, I agree with many who claim that inalienable rights are being denied around the globe, particularly in nations where the laws clearly deny those rights. How can that be? Because rights are granted to us from a power that is higher than the laws and dominions of mankind!
This is a sticky issue for many of the liberal persuasion, especially if they are not inclined to believe in God. If God does not exist, then from where do these rights arise? If there is no God, then right and wrong are just social constructs that can change with the winds of the day.
But the truth is, there is right, and there is wrong. We know it is wrong for another man to beat you for no reason. Therefore, you have the right to not be unjustly beaten; a woman has a right not to be raped, and a child has a right not to be sold into slavery. No reasonable person would deny that such basic rights exist, and that they cannot be legitimately taken away.
I praise God that God exists, and that He has conferred rights to us. And although I do not have the right to force anyone to believe in the God of the Bible, it is my hope that the non-Christians of our nation, and our world, also believe that they, me, and all others have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of who we call God, and even if they do not believe in God at all.
The Bible says that we have an obligation to respect all people, even our enemies. In fact, Jesus, the Son of God, so respects you that He will not force you to believe what He teaches, but He clearly desires that you will. He desires this because He wants you to receive by faith the gift of eternal life that He offers you, but which you have the right to reject.
McCartney is pastor of First Baptist Church of Tooele.