According to Senator Ted Cruz's message for Constitutions Day 2016, one of the two transformative premises set out by the US Constitution is that, "Our rights come from God."
I didn't recall that part of the Constitution, but Ted is a Harvard Law School grad, so I thought maybe I missed something. So I googled up a transcript of the Constitution at the National Archives site. Then I executed "find" functions for "God," "Creator," and "supreme being." I didn't get any hits. I didn't think I would.
At least one authoritative legal scholar says that the determination of what rights God has given us is a decision that is made by people. So if people are deciding what rights come from God, then don't our rights ultimately come from people?
And when some people say that their God-given rights to refrain from assisting in the marriage of two women allow them to ignore the God-given human dignity of the wedding couple to be free from unwarranted discrimination, won't people (judges) have to make a decision based on what makes for a civil and orderly society? These seem much more like earthly matters than heavenly ones.
This all seems a bit more complex and nuanced than simply stating that "our rights come from God."
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