People want to succeed in life in pursuit of happiness, so they cooperate with fellow humans to achieve mutual goals. Tom Head writes, "We believe that rights exist because we care enough about people to respect their livelihood and their autonomy." Humans are sentient empathetic creatures, different than most animals. Animals are selfish and violent, yet most humans try to suppress their natural instincts in favor of cooperation and love. It is because of this tendency toward compassion and cooperation that humans give each other rights.
American citizens receive their basic rights from the United States Bill of Rights as part of the United States Constitution. Founder James Madison introduced these rights as amendments and the House of Representatives adopted them on August 21st, 1789. These Constitutional rights came into effect through ratification on December 15th, 1791. The Bill of Rights was influenced by other documents such as Virginia's Declaration of Rights of 1776, the Magna Carta written in 1215, and the English Bill of Rights of 1689. These are all government documents. Most famously, and perhaps also most confusingly, in the Declaration of Independence is the statement, "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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Nevermind that the "all men were created equal" part only extended to rich, white, land-owning men. What does the term "Creator" mean here? Founder Thomas Jefferson is on record having said that state delegates are an assembly of "demi-gods." Could it be that "Creator" symbolizes the United States founders? Perhaps a better statement would be that rights are endowed by our fellow citizens or humans. In any case, without the government's creation of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, American citizens wouldn't have the guaranteed rights protected by these documents.
The question then becomes, why don't rights come from religious texts and by extension a deity? Part of it is because rights aren't explicitly given in religious texts. Sure, there are examples of love and compassion in the Bible, but it's not equal. The Bible supports slavery and women as servants to men. It rejects education and supports injustice since all future generations of innocent children were punished because Adam and Eve simply ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Plagues and genocide were frequently thrust upon civilizations so God must not care for human life as many think. Amos 3:6 says that God is the source of all evil; "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?" Religious texts aren't a model for social justice, because they encourage so many human injustices. Since the Bible tells of a god who supports evil and violence, we shouldn't assume that such a being would guarantee human rights.
Surely, religions and their followers are a model for where rights come from? In fact, they are not. William T. Cavanaugh finds that religion is absolutist, divisive, irrational, and shows a tendency to promote violence. He found that "Jehovah's Witnesses...were attacked, beaten, tarred, castrated, and imprisoned in the United States [a nation with a majority of Christians] in the 1940s because they believed that followers of Jesus Christ should not salute a flag." In many Islamic countries like Syria and Pakistan, girls are not permitted to go to school and risk injury and death for attempting to go. Religions don't support the social construct of basic human rights.
So if rights do not come from a god, how will they be guaranteed? Some, like Glenn Beck, say the United States government can't be trusted to guarantee such rights. Yet, it is because of the United States government that American citizens have rights. Luckily, the American government was set up by its founders to include protections against changing the United States Constitution. There are three branches of government, including the Judiciary, Executive, and Legislative, that enforce the Constitution and serve to keep the other branches in check. As an added protection, every citizen is required to go to school and learn about United States history, including learning that they have rights. The United States government also functions by implementing the will of its people through elections of government representatives. If government representatives go against the will of the majority, they are replaced. This system has worked well for 237 years. This system of secular social contract that American citizens will treat each other equally and nicely is strictly an agreement between Americans. However, it can change at any time if there is a government overthrow. This is why Americans need to be vigilant against any threat, foreign and domestic.
Those who still think that their rights come from their god must ask themselves, if they lived in a different country, would they have what they consider natural rights? Citizens of poorer countries don't have the same rights that United States citizens enjoy. Many African nations cannot ensure the safety and well-being of their citizens. Some of the most religious places on Earth, like the Middle East, are also centers of extreme violence. This is because rights are not granted and enforced by holy books. They are granted and enforced by societies with strong and economically sound secular governments. Rather than serving our own self-interests, caring and rational human beings realize that for the survival of the species it is in our best interest to look out for others.
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