Inalienable Rights

"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."

So says the Declaration of Independence, the document that set forth the principles on which our forefathers separated from England and began the great experiment which we, over two centuries later, are the result of. The prominent place this sentence, and the ideas contained therein, occupy certainly makes it an important foundation of our country and the way it works and in which its laws should be interpreted... but the more I think about it the less sure I am that the founders were really correct. Please note that I am not suggesting these rights should be taken away from anyone here in the United States, but I begin to wonder if God really has given us the rights described there.

I do believe that we are each created by God, in His image - by which I take it that we have an eternal soul as a part of us which is in some sense modeled after God Himself. That does mean that humans are special individuals, and in Genesis 9:5 we are told the following:

"And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man."

That could perhaps be interpreted to mean that we have a 'right' to life, at least in so far as other people are concerned. God of course has no obligation to let any of us live another second, so before him we have no rights at all, but that is as it should be in the relationship between a Creator and His creation.

Life, then, we may have a legitimate claim to... but what of 'liberty' and 'the pursuit of happiness'? Liberty is analogous to freedom, at least in some sense, and many would argue that this means slavery and forced servitude are both in violation of human rights. This has led to things like the abolition of slavery here in the US, which I consider to be a great thing... but if you look at the instructions given to slaves in the New Testament there are no instructions to rise up and claim their freedom. Instead they are told in Ephesians 6:5 to "obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ." That doesn't seem to imply a right to liberty to me, though the accompanying instructions for masters (which follow immediately after the guidelines for slaves) do seem to indicate that those in positions of authority should treat their underlings with some measure of respect.

The last 'right', the pursuit of happiness, is a bit more vague. I'm not even sure what that means exactly - but at least it isn't a right to happiness itself, as that would be nigh-impossible to imagine. Still, I don't see anything in the Bible which indicates that we have a God-given right to anything relating to happiness. We are encouraged, though, to "be joyful always" (I Thessalonians 5:16) and even to "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2). No matter what our circumstances, then - whether slave or free, rich or poor - we should be joyful in the Lord. That is easier said than done, to be sure, but true joy also seems like a more noble goal than simple happiness.