This post originally appeared at https://wifamilycouncil.org/radio/natural-law-the-us-constitution/
2025 | Week of September 15 | Radio Transcript #1636
This Wednesday marks the 283rd anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. To date, the United States Constitution claims the prize for the longest surviving written charter of government. This remarkable document contains several distinguishing features that have contributed to its longevity. First, the Constitution establishes three separate branches of government each with checks and balances over the others. Second, it divides the power between the federal and state governments. Third, it includes the process for amendment.
Each of these features has enabled the Constitution to stand the test of time. But the Constitution was also built on another important idea. Although not expressly articulated in the Constitution, the founders clearly built the tenants of the Constitution on the concept of natural law.
Natural law is an ancient Greek philosophical idea that was re-popularized by John Locke during the Enlightenment era. Supporters of natural law believe that moral principles are timeless and universal and can be discovered through rational thought. The founding fathers, influenced by Locke, were proponents of natural law. They rightly believed not only that rights are inherent, but also that they are granted by God.
Founding father Alexander Hamilton wrote, “The supreme being gave existence to man, . . . endowed him with rational faculties, . . . and invested him with an inviolable right to personal liberty, and personal safety.”[i]
The famous lines of the Declaration of Independence also point to the founders’ firm conviction that God creates human rights, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”[ii]
Despite such clear declarations by our founders, the tension over whether God or government creates human rights has caused much controversy throughout the years. Earlier this month, the issue came to light once again during a U.S. Senate hearing when a State Department nominee quoted current Secretary of State and former US Senator Marco Rubio who said, “all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our creator, not from our laws, not from our governments.”
This idea – clearly a founding idea of our nation – came under fire when Democrat Senator Tim Kaine disputed, saying, “The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator — that’s what the Iranian government believes.” He went on to say, “The notion that our rights do not come from our laws or our government should make people very, very nervous.”[iii]
But Senator Kaine got it completely backwards. The belief that rights come from government is the notion that should make us “very, very nervous.” And that very ideology has damaged our rights. If the government is the creator of rights, then the government can create or remove rights whenever it pleases. And that is exactly what’s happening in our nation today. An article published by World News Group explains, “The political left in the United States is all about the process of declaring and demanding new artificial rights. Abortion rights one day, next the right for a man to marry a man, and now the supposed right to deny biological reality.”[iv] Rather than viewing our government as the guarantor of our God-given rights, this mentality focuses on crafting new rights to fit a radical agenda.
Founding father Thomas Jefferson clearly warned against this mentality saying, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” Senator Kaine’s remarks not only merit a failing grade in U.S. Government 101, but also reflect a dangerous, destructive ideology that seeks to break down the very foundation of our nation. The government does not decide what is right and what is wrong. God does. And when we stray from God’s definition of right and wrong, we plunge into dangerous waters.
And so, as we celebrate our Constitution and our heritage this week, we have much to be grateful for, but we also have much to protect and preserve. Our founding fathers built this nation upon the essential proposition that God creates rights and government protects them. For our good and for the good of our posterity, we must vigilantly protect this biblical truth that undergirds our form of government.
For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling reminding you that God, through the prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
Haylee Lawver