A Perfectly Natural July 4th

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In declaring their independence and asserting their God-given rights, the Founding Fathers acknowledged the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.”

What was that all about?

As explained by Robert Barker, professor emeritus at Duquesne University, “There can be no doubt that those delegates in Philadelphia who adopted that Declaration believed in, and based the nation’s independence on, the Natural Law.” Barker defines Natural Law this way: “God, in creating the universe, implanted in the nature of man a body of law to which all human beings are subject, which is superior to manmade law, and which is knowable by human reason.”

Barker cites Sophocles’ play Antigone, where the heroine is condemned to death by an unjust king. “I had to choose between your law and God’s law,” she tells the king, “and no matter how much power you have to enforce your law, it is inconsequential next to God’s. His laws are eternal…. No mortal, not even you, may annul the laws of God.”

Cicero saw Natural Law as true law. He wrote: “True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application…. It is a sin to try to alter this law … and it is impossible to abolish it entirely.” Cicero added that “whoever is disobedient” to the Natural Law “is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature.”

The Natural Law is profound, and has been profoundly ignored by liberals/progressives. We could rattle off a litany of examples, but one occurring right now is “same-sex marriage,” which is gravely contrary to the Natural Law. Unfortunately, liberals/progressives could care less.

Beyond liberals/progressives, there are countless millions of ordinary Americans who likewise could care less. Natural Law? Sounds boring.

Well, it isn’t. Few things are actually as exhilarating and uplifting. Think about it: the Creator implanted in you—in your very nature—a body of truth and law to which you and all human beings are subject; it is accessible and knowable by human reason. Sounds like something worth knowing.

 

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Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College and executive director of The Center for Vision & Values. His books include “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism” and “Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.”

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