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When Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia recently declared that Americans should be “very, very nervous” about the belief that rights come from our Creator rather than from government, he revealed more than just a policy disagreement. He denied the very foundation of American liberty—and in so doing, he stood against the words of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and Virginia’s most famous son.
Kaine claimed that believing rights come from God is dangerous, even comparing it to Iran’s theocracy. According to him, it is the government—and its laws—that give people rights, not the Creator.
But that assertion is flatly and dangerously wrong.
The Declaration’s Answer
The Declaration of Independence could not be clearer:
“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…”
America was not founded on the shifting sands of human opinion, but on the eternal truth that rights are given by God, not granted by governments. Because our rights come from the Creator, they are beyond the reach of politicians to give or take away. Government exists only to secure what God has already given.
Virginia’s Own Constitution Sides with Jefferson, Not Kaine
It is especially troubling that Senator Kaine hails from Virginia, the birthplace of America’s constitutional liberty. The very soil he represents testifies against his claim that rights come from government rather than from God.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, drafted by George Mason, begins by affirming that “all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights.” These rights, it declares, exist by nature—before any government is formed—and cannot justly be taken away. In other words, Virginians recognized that rights are God-given, not government-made.
Even more pointed is Article I, Section 16 of the Virginia Constitution, which acknowledges “the duty which we owe to our Creator” and grounds religious liberty in reason and conviction, not force or coercion. The text explicitly places the Creator at the center of our freedoms and conscience.
Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786) reinforces the same truth: religious liberty is a natural right, not a gift from rulers. Jefferson warned that to compel belief or deny conscience was “sinful and tyrannical.”
Taken together, these foundational documents leave no doubt: Virginia’s own constitutional heritage rejects Senator Kaine’s notion that rights come from government. Instead, it proclaims that our rights flow from God Himself, and government exists only to secure them.
Kaine’s Error
By comparing belief in God-given rights to the tyranny of Iran, Senator Kaine commits a grave error. Iran oppresses minorities not because it acknowledges God, but because it denies God’s universal moral law. Its rulers place themselves above the natural rights of human beings created in God’s image.
Far from being a threat to freedom, grounding rights in the Creator is the only safeguard of religious liberty for all—Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist, and everyone else. If God grants rights, then government cannot strip them away based on belief or background.
The Danger of Government-Made Rights
What happens if we accept Senator Kaine’s premise that rights come from government? Then rights are no longer rights at all—they are mere permissions, subject to revision or revocation.
That is the logic of tyranny. Communists, fascists, and theocrats alike claim to define and dispense rights as they see fit. If government creates rights, then no standard exists by which one government’s actions can be condemned as unjust.
Without God as the foundation, there is no answer to the question: Why was Iran wrong?
The Christian Worldview & Natural Law
The Christian worldview provides the true foundation of liberty. Scripture teaches that all men and women are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). From this flows the dignity and worth of every human being.
Natural law—the moral order written into creation—confirms this truth and was acknowledged by the Founders as “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Religious liberty itself flows from this: God desires voluntary worship, not forced allegiance. Therefore, government has no authority to compel belief or suppress conscience.
The Call of the Hour
For 250 years, America has stood on this sturdy foundation. To tear it up now, as Senator Kaine suggests, is to undermine the very soil in which liberty grows.
As Christians and patriots, we must not be silent. We must remind our leaders and our neighbors that rights are not political favors—they are divine endowments. They are unalienable because they come from Almighty God.
Jefferson himself warned us: “Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”
Senator Kaine may reject that truth, but Virginia’s Declaration—and America’s destiny—rest firmly upon it.
