The Transmutation of Natural Rights
And their supposed justification in the modern era.
In the United States, there is no shortage of discussion regarding natural rights. But it remains unsettled as to whether they are worthwhile in themselves. The danger is that if they are not, then we may soon be at a loss despite our allowances.
By investigating natural rights as they exist within the United States, we will come to understand their purpose and limitations. Because in fact, the decline of Christianity appears to have altered their meaning.
Within The Declaration of Independence
Drawing inspiration from the English philosopher John Locke, the American statesman Thomas Jefferson wrote:
“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, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” (July 4, 1776)
The critical qualification is often ignored: men have been bestowed rights on account of God. This is a presupposition. And so, under United States political philosophy, to remove God is to remove the justification for natural rights.
If, according to the Declaration of Independence, we are believed to have natural rights on account of God, then we have them for a purpose. This has often been referred to as a vocation: a divine calling to fulfill a particular duty.
Therefore, natural rights in the United States 1) necessitate a belief in God and 2) are respected only on account of a higher-order function. In short, rights are tools that receive their worth from something other than themselves.
The Collapse of Natural Rights
If you’ve ever played Jenga, then you will know that by removing the foundation everything collapses. What you are left with is a pile of blocks with no apparent form.
In just the same way, if you remove the theist claim that grounds The Declaration of Independence, then natural rights destabilize and stray from their original meaning.
This was the concern of Friedrich Nietzsche when he foresaw the “devaluation” of all values,
“‘Where is God?’ he cried; ‘I’ll tell you! We have killed him—you and I. We are all his murderers. But how did we do this?… Are we not continually falling? And backwards, sidewards, forwards, in all directions? Is there still an up and a down? Aren’t we straying as though through an infinite nothing?’” (The Gay Science §125)
As recent data collected by Pew Research shows, within the United States both Protestantism and Catholicism have suffered significant losses. In 2019, surveys found that 65% of American adults identified as Christians, which represents a decline of 12% from the previous decade. On the contrary, atheism and agnosticism have seen a notable increase.
While it is known that the United States operates with a division between church and state concerning the law, its philosophy cannot escape this metaphysical trap. Thus, natural rights can be said to depreciate at a rate proportional to the decline of religion (specifically Christianity).
I understand that this is a controversial claim. However, my intention is not to argue the truthfulness or merits of being (or not being) religious.
Rather, if we accept that our rights originate from The Declaration of Independence, it follows that if such a document were to lose its validity they too would be subject to collapse.
In the Modern Era
The way to know if my argument bears any truth is to ask people their justification for having rights. In my experience, there are two responses you are likely to receive.
The first might be generalized as ‘We have natural rights to protect our freedom’. This represents a kind of circular reasoning whereby rights secure freedom and freedom secures rights. The issue is that if rights and freedom are merely tools, then they have no value without an aim. Therefore, they cannot justify themselves.
However, it is the second response that ought to elicit our greatest concern: ‘We have natural rights to satisfy our wants’. In analyzing this statement, I am obliged to defer to the harrowing words of Fyodor Dostoevsky,
“The world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and self-destruction! For the world says: ‘You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don’t be afraid of satisfying them and even multiplying your desires.’ That is the modern doctrine of the world. In that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; in the poor, envy and murder; for they have been given rights, but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants.”
Where the divine justification is lacking in the modern era, natural rights have been re-established in the interest of pleasure. In other words, hedonism has taken the place of God.
The collapse of natural rights is symptomatic of the ‘death of God’ predicted by Friedrich Nietzsche. If his diagnosis holds true, then there are two foreseeable outcomes for the United States: 1) hedonism followed by nihilism (a mistrust of all belief systems) or 2) totalitarianism (a replacement belief system). We need not look further than the events of the 20th century to observe the terrible cost of either.
For once, I hope to be wrong.
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