found online by Raymond
From libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara:
A common refrain used by conservatives to defend liberty is that our individual rights are “God-given.” “God-given” is left hanging with no further elaboration necessary. This leaves the defense of freedom at the mercy of others, including other theists, who simply retort, “Oh no, they’re not.” What then?
My view is that freedom is a requirement of human life, rooted in man’s nature and his relationship to existence, and that individual rights are the principles that can be derived from the observable facts of reality. Does this leave religious people incapable of effectively advocating for rights? Not at all.
We who love liberty and Americanism need to explain WHY we have rights.
Whether they have appealed to reason or to the gods, people have never agreed on what rights they have or should have. And while many of them insist that they don’t come from their government, it’s worth remembering that rights effectively do not exist in the absence of a government that defines and protects them.
The case against rights as God-given or nature-given or pure reason-given is rather compelling.