Human Rights: Natural Law Versus The Gifts of Gods?
In The New Organon, Francis Bacon, a scientist and
philosopher of the early seventeenth-century, maintains that "The
logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to the
errors which have their foundation in commonly received notions than
to help the search after truth. So it does more harm than good" (41).
Friedrich Nietzsche, a philosopher of the nineteenth-century,
maintained that religion, and particularly Christianity, is the
morality of "the herd." Nietzsche held that people tend to exhibit a
kind of "herd instinct" and that they succumb to some kind of
psychological need to feel a sense of acceptance or belonging (124).
Kings, politicians, priests, and propagandists know too well that
people use logic to reinforce their beliefs rather than to discover
truth. They also know that people are basically narcissistic and love
being told that their beliefs reflect reality. Those in positions of
power turn these qualities against us by flattering our egos and
assuring us that our notions are right. If we read only to ratify our
opinions and beliefs, and if we give credence only to those who
verify our positions, we become trapped in the snares of those with
political and economic ambitions, and we become their pawns in causes
that we do not even understand.
On January 28, 2003, in the State of the Union address,
George W. Bush announced "The liberty we prize is not America's gift
to the world; it is God's gift to humanity." Many of the spectators,
evidently feeling verified in their beliefs, burst into a thunderous
round of applause. And perhaps this should not be a surprise since
this is precisely what religious enthusiasts have been saying for
centuries. Bush's rhetoric is certainly not unprecedented. Many of
the founders of the United States of America who professed a belief
in something they called "God" made similar remarks. In one document,
Samuel Adams maintains that "The right to freedom being the gift of
God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and
voluntarily become a slave" (107). Even the founding fathers of
America that hated the Christian religion paid lip service to
something called "God." Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine maintained
that the Christian religion and all "revealed religion" is fraudulent
but both men claimed to believe in the existence of some god.
Interestingly, these men who had a profound dislike of Christianity
and other religions, but who often alluded to what they called "the
god of nature," are among those to whom we now give the utmost credit
for advocating and securing the rights of Americans. But what exactly
is liberty, and what is it that we call a right? Is a right something
that occurs in nature? Can we point at a right? If something
called "God" gave us this gift that we call rights, then how do we go
about determining just what those rights are?
Many seem to think that a right is some activity that is
morally sanctioned because it seems right. But what seems right to
one person may not seem right to another. Religionists tend to think
that what is right is that which conforms to the dictates of
their "sacred texts" and their "divinely inspired" pastors. Anything
that does not conform to their religious textbooks and to the
statements made by their leaders is considered wrong. Many Christian
leaders, for example, used to be opposed to the use of anesthesia to
alleviate the suffering that women experience from labor pains. Their
position was that labor pains were instituted by God, and that
humankind has no right to stand in defiance of God's will. This means
that the Christian view of rights is such that any activity which
fails to meet the standards of scripture cannot be considered a
right. Many religionists believe that destruction is the fate of
nations that do not base their laws and rights on their sacred texts.
On the September 13, 2003 episode of The 700 Club, Jerry Falwell
announced that gays, lesbians, abortionists, atheists and civil
libertarians were to blame for the terrorist attacks at the World
Trade Center. God, according to Falwell, removed his "protective
hand" as a warning that we must not tolerate these sinful people in
America. Those in positions of power take advantage of this by
announcing that Rights are "God's gift to humanity." This gives
people the idea that their opinions are facts, and it serves to give
them the feeling that they possess intellectual integrity, and people
vote for those who make them feel good about themselves. In this way,
our narcissism is used as a weapon against us. On the September 19,
2000 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, George W. Bush confessed "I
am a person who recognizes the fallacy of humans." Adolf Hitler
recognized and exploited that fallacy to gain power in Germany. By
convincing the German people that Aryans were a special, superior and
pure race of human beings, and by telling them that they were being
cheated out of the wealth that they deserved, the people became easy
prey. Their narcissism and desire to belong to a special kind of
family or group was used as a tool to enslave them in the
dictatorship that they voted for.
In the very same document that Samuel Adams describes rights
as "the gift of God Almighty," he points out that rights "are evident
branches of...the first law of nature[and that]....The natural
liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and
not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to
have the law of nature for his rule" (107). So it is not scripture,
but rather, the first law of nature that offers guideposts for human
beings in their search for what is right. One doesn't capture that
impression from listening to speeches such as the one delivered by
George W. Bush in his State of the Union address. When leaders such
as George W. Bush, Ayatollah Khomeini, Pope John Paul and Adolf
Hitler utter sets of assertions, we should bear in mind that it is
often not what they say, but rather, what they choose not to say that
we should consider in defense of liberty and justice. In Atlas
Shrugged, a novel written by Ayn Rand, a character named John Galt
offers his definition of rights:
The source of man's rights is not divine law or
congressional law, but the law of identity. A is A--and Man is Man.
Rights are conditions of existence required by man's nature for his
proper survival. If a man is to live on earth, it is right for him to
use his mind, it is right to act on his own free judgment, it is
right to work for his values and to keep the product of his work. If
life on earth is his purpose, he has a right to live as a rational
being: nature forbids him the irrational. Any group, any gang, any
nation that attempts to negate man's rights, is wrong, which means:
is evil, which means: is anti-life (1061).
According to Rand, Their is no such thing as a right to a house, a
right to food, a right to a car, a right to an abortion, a right to a
computer, or a right to healthcare. What we have, Rand maintains, is
the right to use our minds, to earn our fortunes and to trade the
fruits of our labor for the fruits of other peoples' labor provided
that they are willing to trade with us. We have the right to trade
our money or property in
exchange for goods and services like homes and abortions only if
someone who has those goods, or is able to perform those services is
willing to deal with us. For example, in prehistoric times, no woman
could claim the right to an abortion since no-one was available to
offer that service as a mutual exchange. According to Rand and her
colleagues, the unborn have no rights. Only actual human beings have
rights, and in the first trimester of pregnancy, what exists is not
an actual human being, but rather, is only a potential. A potential
human being has no rights. Rand puts forth some very compelling
arguments compared to those of George W. Bush who says "My pro-life
position is I believe there's life. It's not necessarily based in
Religion. I think there's a life there, therefore the notion of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (Weisberg 59). But just as
politicians and religious leaders appeal to our narcissistic
tendencies and our fears of being rejected by the herd, so Rand takes
advantage of these weaknesses. In most of her works, she glorifies
the human mind and tells the reader that he or she possess the
magnificent power of reason, and that no-one is his or her
intellectual superior. She uses the word "social mystic" to describe
any person that believes in the existence of people with intelligence
superior to one's own intelligence. This makes the reader feel
excellent and worthy of existence. Those who read Rand's works often
go to meetings called "objectivist workshops" where they are told
what all of the correct opinions are on every political, ethical and
philosophical issue. Once the person attending these meetings
demonstrates that all of the correct opinions have been formed,
membership to the "objectivist club" is offered. Strangely, thousands
of people have been excommunicated from this club for erring ever so
slightly in the formation of any particular opinion. It is difficult
to understand how one can reconcile the desire to avoid being
a "social mystic" with the requirement to form an official set of
opinions. Once again we find peoples' narcissistic tendencies and
their fears of being rejected used against them by ambitious leaders.
Spam, a term used to describe unwanted and unsolicited email
on the internet, floods our computers. Spammers are people who
attempt to solicit money from unsuspecting and naive people by
promising them money making schemes that require little or no effort.
They use all of the same tactics that politicians, religious leaders
and propagandists use to take advantage of human ignorance. Here is a
typical spam letter that exhibits the kind of phenomena that we are
concerned with:
Hello, If you join NPD's Online Research Team in the next
ten days, you could win $1,000!...We are looking for people just like
You. Your attitudes and opinions are especially valuable. By joining
this team, your insights, combined with other team members, will give
[people] the opportunity to
listen to you first hand. And, you'll have the opportunity
to win some great prizes--starting with the chance to win $1,000!
This offer expires soon, so join today! Take a Chance! Join The Team!
Make a Difference! (P.D.F.).
We are special, and valuable. Our opinions are required and
important. We must hurry if we are to achieve that membership or some
prize. There is no time to think things through or to analyze
anything.
We must join the team and take that special place among the
chosen. "Today is the day of salvation."
If we are ever to become truly liberated, we must begin by
casting off the shackles of narcissism that turns us into slaves. And
we must learn to judge things on their merits rather than on how they
make us feel. This gives us intellectual integrity and confidence in
our ability to see through the clouds of deception. In 1761, a simple
expression that captures this spirit was written in The Free
Enquirer: "Men ought not to be bribed into an opinion by the promises
of rewards, nor terrified into it by threats of punishments. It
favours a bad cause which requires these arts" (46). The author,
Peter Annet, was imprisoned and forced to stand in the pillories
after being convicted of blasphemy in a society that assured its
citizens of their rights to live in a nation governed by God's laws.


List of Works Cited or Studied in Developing This Essay

Adams, Samuel. The Report of the Committee of Correspondence to the
Boston Town Meeting. Nov.20, 1772. Grob and Beck.
Annet, Peter. The Free Enquirer. 14 Nov. 1761: No.6.
Bacon, Francis. The New Organon. Ed. Fulton H. Anderson.
Indianapolis/NewYork: The Library of Liberal arts, 1960.
The Bible. Revised Standard Version.
Bush, George W. The State of The Union Address. January 28, 2003.
Diderot, Denis The Encyclopedia. selections. Ed. and Trans. Stephen
J. Gendzier. New York: The
Academy Library, 1967.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Trans. Hill Thompson. Norwalk: The
Heritage Press, 1955.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good And Evil. Trans. R.J.Hollingdale.
London: Penguin, 1990.
P.D.F. "Hello, if you join PDF's Online Research Team." E-mail to the
author . 3 May, 2003.
Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, Inc., 1957.
Weisberg, Jacob. More George W. Bushisms. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 2002.
Woolston, Thomas. Six Discourses on the Miracles of our Saviour. Ed.
Rene Wellek. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1979.