No it doesn't.ShootDontTalk wrote:Charles...Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you are saying here, but I find this a bit unusual.Charles L. Cotton wrote: First of all, it's not a "right" until and unless the U.S. Supreme Court says it's a "right." That's the only opinion of the Constitution that matters.
Chas.
1) The Declaration of Independence says this:
"WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
However, the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States does say all that.
ShootDontTalk, basically, I agree with your premise, but here's the thing I would quibble with you over..... as a Christian myself, I agree that these rights are God-given. However, the founders were an eclectic bunch, including Christians, theists, agnostics, etc., and they realized that these rights had to be explainable as pertaining to them also. After all, how can an atheist who does not believe in a creator seriously claim rights established by a deity he doesn't even believe exists? So, the founders used a set of terms interchangeably, sometimes depending on who was speaking.... terms like "God-given", "nature's God", "natural rights", and so on. While I would never deny the Lord's involvement in this, others might, I think we need to be inclusive in our choice of terms so as to make it clear that these rights are universal, regardless of one's spiritual condition, simply because one lives and breathes.
