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b_b  ·  861 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: New Religion

    God Given Constitutional Rights

I don't want to try to apply logic where none exists, but the above statement is an oxymoron of the highest order. Constitutional rights are very much man given. The only God given rights recognized in America are those enumerated on the Declaration of Independence, which of course aren't codified in the Constitution. Rather, the Constitution is structured in such a way as to have those God given rights in mind without specifically naming them. Those rights are, of course, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (and yes, I'm aware that the 14th amendment, blah, blah, so leave it alone). The crux of the issue is, obviously, at what point do the God given rights of individuals collide with the God given rights of the group (and vice versa). This nut case notwithstanding, we've done a really bad job, societally, answering that question, with more and more rights being afforded to the individual in recent decades. The pendulum will swing back eventually, but not until both sides (and I'm both sidesing this intentionally...fight me...this issue is bigger than covid) realize that the individual is important but not everything. We need each other, and we need to be able to trust each other. We can laugh all day at crack pots, but the culpability runs deep for why this type of behavior is extant.