Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Friday, June 25, 2010 11:29:14 AM
‘I am no Christian, never have been. But even a God denier can't alter history. Though some of us tend to focus on the ugly aspects of religion (and there are plenty), it would be difficult not to concede that liberty, tolerance, basic rights of women, education, free inquiry, free speech and freedom of religion thrive in predominantly Christian nations.’ – David Harsanyi
It is rare to find an atheist that will acknowledge the truth that liberty is associated with the Law and the Gospel. Most men not only deny God, but also the correlation of the history of redemption with the history of liberty.
It is Biblical Christianity with its view of man in his depravity and the power of the self-revealed God in the gospel that has given rise to the American Bill of Rights. American freedom and prosperity is an anomaly in the history of nations. The French started with human rights in their revolution, but the so called Enlightenment had an insufficient foundation for law and rights based on autonomous reason.
Human rights must be defined in terms of the Natural Law which is a reflection of the moral Law of God revealed in the Ten Commandments. Men have a right of religious liberty because they are image bearers and commanded to worship God in the way He has revealed in the Bible. Men have a right to their own property because the Law commands all men not to murder or steal. Men have a right of conscience because they are commanded not covet or lie. They have a right for honorable marriage because the Law commands sexual purity.
The Law restricts lawlessness, but frees men in their pursuit of righteousness. We are free to do good to all men according to the Law. We honor their conscience in freedom of religion and in truth telling; we honor their life and their property and their marriage by holding these things as sacred.
Without this foundation as a consensus then our liberty will increase lawlessness and constitutionalism will give way to authoritarianism.