Rights

The idea of rights is in the news because of health care but the concept is not often understood. The Constitution along with the Bill of Rights is clear in defining rights as individual rights. These rights cannot be given or taken away by joining or not joining a group. The first amendment right of religious freedom does not mean that an individual must belong to a church since the right is vested in the person not the organization. In today’s world there is a rallying cry for group rights like LBGT rights, women’s rights, Muslim rights, minority rights, illegal alien rights, and so on. The theory is that there is strength in numbers and while that is true the hope is that these groups will attain parity with individual rights. Why is the concept of individual rights so important? The Declaration of Independence America’s founding document, states: “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…” These words affirm that our Founding fathers saw rights as bestowed not by governments, but by God; not to groups, but to individuals.