Do you want us to start the punching? Honestly, the article reeks of ignorance.
But if we are talking about the ideals that led to the very colonization of this land, our declaration of independence from Britain, and the formulation of our Constitution, then the answer is certainly "yes."
The reason the colonists from Jamestown came over was for gold. Than they found tabacco and the rest is history. The colonists for New England came to form a more oppressive theocratic state because the Anglicans were too lax (Sports on
Sunday! The nerve!). Of course, half of the Mayflower was individuals who wanted to come to Virginia and were less than pleased they were in New England, hence the creation of the Mayflower Compact to appease them.
conflating it with less tolerant faiths
There are faiths less tolerant then Christianity? I thought it was in the category "believe or else".
"The humanists and Enlightenment rationalists viewed the concept of inalienable rights with scorn."
Because right based morality doesn't work? The simplest problem is that you have to choose between rights and find something higher.. in which case it collapses.
"all Men are created equal … (and) are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" have come from the polytheistic Greeks or Romans, because "Creator" is singular.
Except that their mythologies had only one creator God.
They "believed that rights were a product of society and state."
Sounds hauntingly familiar, doesn't it?
The irnoy of attacking the conception of societally granted rights while wanking to the constitution just breaks the scale. What does he think the constitution is
doing?
The concept of unalienable rights inheres in the Judeo-Christian precept that an all-loving God created man in his image, thus entitling him to dignity, freedom and rights that cannot be divested by the state.
Which is why several of the rights can be repealed in case of emergency or are vague enough to be ignore in times of war.
Our constitutional framework of government can only be understood in the context of the Framers' predominantly Christian worldview. While they believed in man's dignity, they also believed in his depravity and that only if they imposed limitations on government would it be possible to establish a scheme of individual liberties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de ... ontesquieu
Much of our Bill of Rights is biblically based, as well, and the Ten Commandments and further laws set out in the book of Exodus form the basis of our Western law.
The 10 commandments are a contract/treaty, while the bill of rights are an alteration to a governing document.
freest and most prosperous nation on earth for people of all races, ethnicities and religions.
The "freest" would be Somalia, unless you want actual freedom in which case it is debatable. The richest is Qatar in GDP per capita.
