“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.”
This week we celebrated the independence and establishment of the American nation, and the premise upon which the day (and the nation) rests is an explicitly theological one. It has become common in recent years to assume that a society of equality and liberty must be free of specific theological biases, but that is an untenable claim. Although our nation allows freedom of any religion, the basic premise of the nation itself is founded on the structures and presuppositions of one particular religious tradition. Although someone does not need to be a Christian to live in America, they must undeniably rest upon the pillars of the Christian worldview in order to do so.
The reality of “equality” and “rights” derive explicitly from the doctrine of creation. Men do not possess rights because the government confers them, nor because man has decided that he shall possess such a thing. Many of the calls for justice and progress in our own day are precipitated on these two categories of equality and rights, presuming upon their objective value and authority—but where do they come from? Their origins will determine whether or not they’re binding. If they’re invented by man, then they’re arbitrary and cannot be insisted upon with such moral rigor. But if they come from outside of us, then that means there is some objective source of value and authority to whom we’re accountable.
That is precisely what the Declaration of Independence points out: the equality of all men stems from the fact that they are “created equal.” And the rights of men stem from the fact that they are “endowed by their Creator” with said rights. If there is no Creator, then there is no equality and there are no rights, and man is just another beast warring with fellow beasts for survival. These twin values are precipitated upon the reality of a Creator who bequeaths men with such values, and men are clearly expected to uphold these values in light of the reality of this Creator. So it is the Creator who sets the moral agenda for human beings, and it this Creator’s intention for the world that we’re expected to uphold.
Curiously, the Declaration says of equality and rights, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” A cursory reading of world history will reveal that these truths have not been NOT self-evident to the vast majority of human civilizations. What was being proposed by the Founding Fathers was, from a historical perspective, rather unprecedented. And yet they claimed to be advocating something that should have been obvious. How so? Because it should be self-evident…to those who approach the world from a Christian worldview. Once someone accepts the idea that there is a Creator who specially made man in His image, and set him in a unique position above all creation, and that man is morally accountable to this Creator, then concepts like “equality” and “rights”, and our responsibility before an objective standard of justice to maintain them, should naturally follow. But you do not arrive at this conclusion from any other faith tradition. It is not “self-evident” from any other starting point.
It was not “self-evident” in the eastern worldview of reincarnation and the caste system, where people who lived in pitiful conditions were regarded as getting what they deserved because of wrongdoing in a past life. It was not “self-evident” in the indigenous worldview of ritual warfare, where courage was seen in the slaughter of neighboring tribes. It was not “self-evident” in the Greco-Roman culture, where the intellectuals and warriors ruled over slaves and uninformed masses. It was not “self-evident” in the materialistic worldview of natural selection, where those who are sick or weak hinder the progress of the species. It is only “self-evident” WHEN someone starts where Christianity starts: there is a Creator who created all men in His image, gave him a unique status in the world, and expects all men to honor this unique status in his fellow men. It can only be “self-evident” once someone is inside the framework of Christianity.
To say that America was founded on a Christian worldview is not a theological claim, but a historical fact. You do not need to be a Christian to be an American. But you cannot buy into its initial premise without accepting basic Christian presuppositions. And you cannot try to minimize the role of Christianity in American life without ripping the values you treasure most—equality and rights—out from under your own feet.
marks of the kingdom 