Rights and …

Twenty-fifth in a series

A relationship exists between rights and law, so it’s difficult to know where to start. Which comes first? Rights or laws? The answer is, it depends. We’ll see the governance model one is under controls which comes first, and indeed, do rights or law even exist in the same way under both models.

This wasn’t a topic in my earlier series on Islam. So I’ll start with rights so we can put those into the framework for the Biblical Principles model, as America adopted that at its founding. This will serve as a baseline for discussing law, which we’ll cover next time. We’ll see the two primary governance models result in structures and relationships in these areas that are polar opposites once again.

A Few Definitions

Let’s begin with a few definitions, so we all start from the same place in this discussion. We’ll begin with defining; right, law, and privilege. All definitions coming from the 1820 Webster’s Dictionary.[1]

Right:

1. Conformity to the will of God, or to his law, the perfect standard of truth and justice.
2. Conformity to human laws, or to other human standard of truth, propriety, or justice.

Law: A rule, particularly an established or permanent rule, prescribed by the supreme power of a state to its subjects, for regulating their actions, particularly their social actions.

Privilege: Originally a private law, some public act that regarded an individual.

1. A particular and peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company, or society, beyond the common advantages of other citizens. Granted by law or held by custom, including exceptions.

Rights can come from either God or man. The first type we refer to as natural rights; the second we call today civil rights. God is sufficient in and of himself; He needs nothing else. However, man is insufficient as, unlike God, he is not infinite, he is less than God. Man’s actions must therefore align with God’s, and God is good. We’ll see next time that law also comes from both God and man. Privileges, on the other hand, come from man; being the child of private law, derived by law itself or established by custom.

Why Do We Have Rights?

The following comes from A Handbook of Natural Rights.[2]

“The short answer is we were each given free will, the freedom to make—and responsibility for making—our own choices. This freedom is God’s gift to each one of us, and we cannot fulfill our purpose without it. Those rights coming from God have their basis in His morality and support us in fulfilling our purpose. The rights He’s provided allow us to use our freedom in achieving our purpose, if we choose to do good.

‘How this gift supports our purpose leads us into a discussion about grace and free will. St. Thomas Aquinas (Thomas) described grace using the example of the king’s grace in his Summa Theologicæ.^[3] All three parts must be present and in the order given. First, the king loves one of his soldiers. Second, out of that love the king gives the soldier a gift, one given gratis (freely). Third, out of this gift love is reciprocated from the soldier back to the king. It all boils down to love, what the Greeks called agape. Unlike a human king, who loves some of his subjects and others not so much, God loves all of His creation—each and every one of us. Otherwise, He would not have created us in the first place.”[4]

Rights and Purpose

From A Handbook of Natural Rights, again.

“Our purpose is simply to become good. God made all of creation, and it was good. God made man in His image, an inward image, and it was very good. Man was created good.^[5] Evil is the absence of good, the result of man’s choices when he turns away from good—that is, God.

‘Accomplishing our purpose requires several things.

1. Holiness: Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.^[6]
2. To Know and Do: Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them.^[7]
3. Obedience: We are to exhibit the well-ordered obedience of faith to eternal law.^[8]
4. Worship: We are to worship God in faith, hope, and love.^[9]

‘This is not a complete list, but one highly relevant to the topic at hand. Grace is another of God’s gifts, and evidence of His mercy. According to Augustine, “Out of His fulness have we received, according to our humble measure, our particles of ability as it were for leading good lives—‘according as God hath dealt to every man his measure of faith’; because ‘every man hath his proper gift of God; one after this manner, and another after that.’ And this is grace.”^[10]”[11]

Our rights allow us to accomplish our purpose, if we so choose. Natural rights come in the areas of; being, actions, relationships, and things. Some say these rights are largely unwritten. But is that true? I would say no. While not explicit their principles come from the Bible, one need only to read and study to find them.

Natural Rights

Natural rights come from man’s nature, and the dominion over the things of the earth God gave to man. They are innate, as they are part of man. Man’s natural rights infer natural law. Natural rights come first because man’s creation came first. Before God gave man dominion, He first created man. Law concerns the creation, but the creation stands of its own accord as God’s action. William Blackstone was well known by America’s Founders. He said the following about natural rights.

“Those rights then which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislature has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture. Neither do divine or natural duties … receive any stronger sanction from being also declared to be duties by the law of the land.”[12]

Rights in Biblical Principle Societies

Biblical society principles include the following;

1. Society recognizes who God is, His sovereignty and authority.
2. All human beings share a common kinship and nature.
3. Natural rights form society’s foundation.
4. Natural rights lead to observing natural law.
5. Individual decision making orders Biblical based societies, leading to greater freedom.

The Biblical Principles model recognizes God’s authority, man’s dominion over the things of the earth granted by God, and man’s common kinship and nature. Through that shared common nature and dominion comes man’s sovereignty in his own being, created in the image and likeness of God. This status forms the basis for natural rights, and the individualistic nature of society’s governed by the Biblical Principles model. In part, this is due to the nature of those rights, which is where we head next.

Negative and Positive Rights

One relevant aspect of all rights is whether they are negative or positive. Not in the sense of good or bad, but in terms of power or authority to act. We outline each below.

Negative Rights

We can diagram negative rights as follows. Some of their properties follow the diagram.

• They are generally the few things one is to refrain from doing in society.
• Because only a few things are withheld, man has relatively greater freedom to choose from the things allowed.
• They require a moral people to make good choices.
• Each right comes with a duty to exercise it properly.

Natural rights are generally negative in nature. Take the Ten Commandments as an example. Four concern God; six concern man. Eight tell us something we are not to do, such as; have no god but God, no graven images, or take His name in vain. Do not lie, steal, murder, commit adultery, covet another’s possessions. The rest is up to us. The one thing mentioned in this example we are to do is, honor God and our parents. Within this example eight of the rights are negative, and two are positive. At the heart of natural rights and law is avoiding evil. Do good.

Positive Rights

Positive rights generally;

• Proclaim something one must either do or refrain from doing.
• With such rights one has less freedom. Our choice boils down to compliance. A simple yes/no decision. There is therefore generally more coercion and less freedom with positive rights.
• Such rights only require an obedient people; one capable of following orders.
• There are generally a great many of these type of rights as every action can require a right (or law) supporting it.

These rights are generally created by man through codes, statutes, regulations, and such. There is generally more coercion within societies relying more on positive rights. In fact, one can generally not obey them all, as they often come into conflict. Several studies within the US on federal law violations report some surprising results. One study estimates a person on average violates over 1,500 federal laws each day. Not because they intend to break the law, but rather the laws themselves conflict with each other so one cannot obey them all without breaking some.

Natural Right Areas

I read the Bible looking for structures, principles, etc. concerning natural rights. I found over 700 verses, and likely missed some. I only used about three hundred in my book, as there is redundancy in many of those passages. However, at the time I had not yet read Blackstone’s Commentaries on English law. Their structures dovetail nicely. The one area I overlooked was a type of relationship. What we would call contracts or covenants. This is generally a private relational agreement between two or more beings. However, the Biblical idea of covenant is so much greater than we imagine today.

I mentioned above each natural right comes with a moral duty. The list below contains both. A quick example using life. All life comes from God; it is therefore sacred. No one has the right to take life away from another, unless they have already deliberately taken another’s life. Therefore, the command “Thou shalt not murder.” It is by grace we were each given life. Therefore, one has a moral obligation to live the best life they can, thereby fulfilling our purpose. Rights and moral obligations. One follows from the other.

Being

• Creation – Created by God, we have the right not to have our life taken.
  • We have a corresponding duty to live well, fulfilling our purpose.
• Man’s Nature – God created man to have a relationship with Him. God is love. No one has the right to prevent our loving God.
  • Loving God requires a relationship. We have a duty to build that relationship.

Actions

• Knowing: Having a relationship requires getting to know God. We know Him through His creation, His word, and knowing ourselves. No one has the right to prevent us from knowing Him.
  • Once we know God, we have a duty to obey His commands and instructions.
• Doing: God’s gift of free will allows us to choose good things. No one has the right to deny us that choice.
  • We are sovereign co-heirs; equal in nature. We have the duty to respect others in our choices.
• Purpose Fulfillment: Knowing and doing lead us to fulfilling our purpose—and happiness. No one has the right to prevent us from choosing that path.
  • Like the King’s gift mentioned earlier, we give gifts to others out of love. We have the duty of charity.

Relationships

• Family (Private): Man does not live forever. No one has the right to prevent us from procreating. To see man continues caring for God’s creation.
  • Having a family comes with the duty of providing for their needs; physical, spiritual, and educational.
• Society/People (Public): Not only are we to love God, but our fellow man. This requires relationships as well. No one has the right to prevent us from communicating with others or assembling. I would add to this no one has the right to prevent us from freely contracting with one another.
  • All this comes with the duty of supporting the common good.
• Governance: The Biblical Principles model began when Jethro advised Moses in Deut. 1:13-7 and Exodus 18:19-26. Initially this governance came through judges with God as King. Later, the people rejected God’s kingship in 1 Samuel 8. No one has the right to deny man justice.
  • Service to God and others is the basis of the Biblical Principles model. We have a duty to serve others.

Things

• Creation: With man’s dominion, we have the right to keep the fruits of our labor. What we create is ours, just as what God created is His. Money is a store of value for what man creates. This applies to personal and real property, although we are not to permanently sell the land (see Lev. 25:23-4). At America’s founding, the highest form of real property ownership were allodial title and land patents. More on this topic when discussing law.
  • God gave man dominion, beneficial use of the things of the earth. We have the duty to be good stewards of what God entrusted to us.

Now, it’s time to move on to the State Religion model.

State Religion Societies

These societies are different. They rely heavily on positive rights; proclaimed through codes, statutes, regulations, ordinances, and such. This is because the government is sovereign, and not the people. Indeed, it is the view that governance creates the people within this model. Such governments may not recognize God, or may even create their own god(s). This is true of all the ancient civilizations we’ve studied in history.

These government-made rights are not innate; they are created by man. They are privileges, and these can change or end at any time in the future by new proclamations. So what are some of the differences between the two societies? In the first society, man is accountable only to God, his fellow man, and himself. He has the rights to work, travel, marry, have children, and provide for himself. In this second society type, those ‘rights’ come with government consent. Think of things like the following;

• Applications for jobs, loans, or getting married. This is making a request of a superior.
• Registration for things like property, children, music, writing, and professions. Informing the government regarding what you possess, either physically or intellectually.
• Licensing to drive, marry, or work in many professions. This is the government’s approval of your choice.
• Certifications verifying that all the above have been done to provide as proof to others. This includes things like a Certificate of Title for the vehicle you ‘own’.

America Today

Unfortunately, over the past 100 – 150 years, America has migrated slowly from the first governance model to the second one. A significant step in this process occurred in the 1938 Supreme Court’s Erie Railroad v. Tompkins opinion, followed shortly thereafter by changing our entire legal system through issuing the Rules of Civil Procedure. But it is not too late to change. Indeed, I believe that process has been ongoing for the last nine years or so.

To wrap this section up, man’s created nature and dominion over the things of the earth provide the basis for his natural rights That nature and dominion came first, with Biblical principles inferring natural law. Some claim it a weakness these laws are not explicitly written; I would submit that when something becomes written code, statutes, etc.—it ceases to be law. Instead, natural law derives from our heart and exhibited through our actions. Justice exists for Biblical principle violations.

The second model described within this section is the opposite. Human laws come first, creating privileges for those who are a given proclamation’s subject. These represent group, or collective, rights. This forms the basis of civil law, which America has been under for almost ninety years. A diagram appears at the end of this article outlining some of the relationships and differences. Before we finish completely, it is time to discuss Islam.

Islam

Islamic society is a variation of the State Religion model. It is a collectivist society, meaning rights or privileges apply to groups rather than individuals. The idea expressed in earlier articles that some are more equal than others.

Within such societies, the primary purpose of governance is seeing Islam’s requirements carried out, as contained within the Qur’an and hadith and embodied in Shari’ a. We can do a quick test to see if these are rights or privileges as noted above.

Within the Biblical Principles model, it does not matter what group(s) you belong to—your rights remain the same as they are innate. You carry them with you because of who and what you are as part of God’s creation. However, if a Muslim were to leave Islam, would they still retain the same rights they had while a Muslim? Or would they be different?

Within Islam, one who leaves Islam (an apostate) is to be killed, for turning their back to Allah and leaving true belief. That would indicate Islam contains privileges, which makes sense as Allah is the source of all. But compare that to Moses in Duet. 30:15-20. Moses says he’s presented the people with the choice of life and blessings, or death and curses. If man turns away from God, his nature does not change. Neither do his rights. However, man loses the benefit of what God provides, but man can correct that situation if he chooses returning to God again. All out of love.

Footnotes:

[1] Webster, Noah, American Dictionary of the English Language, Foundation for American Christian Education, 2021 reprinting.

[2] Wolf, Dan, A Handbook of Natural Rights, Living Rightly Publications, 2018. This work goes into more detail on rights in general and the Biblical basis for many of our natural rights.

[3] Aquinas, St. Thomas, p. 109, Summa Theologicæ, Vol. 30, McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., 1970, Part 1a2ae, Question 110, Article 1.

[4] Wolf, Dan, pp. 3-4, A Handbook of Natural Rights, Living Rightly Publications, 2018.

[5] Genesis 1. All Bible citations come from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.

[6] Lev. 11:44.

[7] Matt. 7:24-27.

[8] Augustine, p. 935, City of God, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970. Book XIX, Chapter 14. Future references to this work will include the book and chapter in the citation.

[9] Augustine, p. 482, The Enchiridion, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. III, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970. Chapter 3. Future references to this work will include the chapter number in the citation.

[10] Augustine, p. 1248, Treatise on Grace and Free Will, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970. Chapter 21. Further references to this work will include the chapter number in the citation.

[11] Wolf, Dan, pp. 4-5, A Handbook of Natural Rights, Living Rightly Publications, 2018.

[12] Blackstone, William, p. 33, Commentaries on the Laws of England, Vol. 1, 1765, Lonang Institute, 2003.