The Unalienable Right to Life

The Founding Fathers recognized human rights are grounded in human nature because human nature is created by God. Given an equal and universal human nature, there are universal human rights based on universal moral principles. 

Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Life and liberty are a necessary means for achieving happiness, as happiness is the effect of possessing “the good,” and attaining that which is good is the end goal for human beings.

Rights, Endowed by our Creator

But, given the fallenness of humanity, the Founders recognized there are competing views of the good and thus saw the need to guarantee the right to pursue what one believes to be the good life.  

The Declaration of Independence proclaims that we are endowed by our Creator with “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Further, our Constitution guarantees, in both the 5th and 14th Amendments, that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

Humans are created in the image of God. The Declaration guarantees the political conditions for securing our body from harm so we may pursue what is good, a quality of spiritual life. For this, governments are vested with the duty of punishing crime and the breaking of the codified law, while the church is vested with the task of addressing moral evil and the breaking of moral law. 

Deliver Us from Evil

The reality of the need for the government to protect society from harm assumes there is an objective moral evil in that some views of the good life are not good. 

If the government fails to address crime, evil will become more emboldened and if the church fails to address moral depravity, the citizenry will become immoral. In both cases the government will find an excuse to increase the exercise of political power. When spiritual life dwindles, evil and crime increase, and with an increase in crime comes an increase in the threat to life.

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” -- Psalm 82:3-4

The sixth commandment says, “thou shall not murder.” The inverse of unjust killing is the preservation of life, both physical and spiritual. That we are forbidden to murder presupposes we all have a right to life.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism says: “The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life, and the life of others … The sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto.”

Government has no duty to protect the individual

Romans 13 outlines the two duties that government has: 

1. bringing punishment on the wrong dover (Romans 13:4), and 
2. praising good behavior (Romans 13:3) 

Government’s task is to punish crimes against society, and any protection that provides via  deterrence is a bonus. Nevertheless, the government has taken it on that it *is* their duty to provide protection to society. The government cannot always protect individual lives, nor is it legally required to. 

But even if it could, trying to protect individuals...even society...via deterrence is a short walk that turns into the stomping of liberty. Since the government cannot protect you, individuals have the responsibility and moral obligation to save their own lives, the lives of their household, the lives of their immediate communities, and even beyond that, defending the nation when necessary. 

"The Constitution preserves "the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -- James Madison of Virginia, The Federalist, No. 46

Jesus says in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.” The greatest love one could show is selfless sacrifice for one’s family and friends. This sacrifice may come in many ways, but it surely includes physically defending those we love. Saving life may require self-defense against the unjust killing of you or others. 

To protect your life, our Founding Fathers guaranteed the Tools of Liberty...arms and armor...would always be available to protect home and hearth, country, and countrymen. It is our duty to future generations that these tools remain available to all free men.