Something that has always bothered me, even when I was a Christian, is the idea that our rights are “God given”. No, it’s not your government that determines your rights as a person, but “God”. If that’s true, why are rights of people so different in the various countries around the world?
Maybe it’s because “God” doesn’t consider all the people he created equal and therefore do not all deserve the same rights. That has to be it, right? Or maybe for some peoples in the world, God is just testing them to see if they’re worthy of all of his blessings, including those that are considered natural rights.
I’ve actually asked Christians these questions and have never received any answer as to how they can believe that rights come from God, yet people around the world are treated differently. It’s ridiculous to me. It’s clear that people’s rights come from government, Men and women either elected to office that write legislation that is then enacted as law. In the U.S., our rights are defined in our Constitution, the part known as the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments to that document.Any laws written have to pass that high bar and can be determined unconstitutional by a court. It keeps our elected officials in check.
But there was no God involved there, it was people that determined what the rights of citizens should be and those amendments adopted after the first ten, were ratified by the people as well. No God required. Of course Christians will always bring up The Declaration of Independence where it is written:
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.
Maybe that’s what the founders and framers believed, but it’s not what they wrote into the Constitution: God is not mentioned anywhere. So for Christians to point to this part of the Declaration as proof that our rights come from God is forgetting the very next part which they conveniently like to leave out:
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
No matter where you believe rights actually come from, it is government, not God, that institutes those rights by consent of those they govern. If our rights, as humans actually came from some God, then there’d be no difference, no matter where anyone lived. I think we’d have a better world if people just realized it is they that are responsible, not some God, for the outcomes of their lives. It’s time for humanity to grow up.
Conservative Skeptic 
An interesting situation in western China, where the government is asking the Uighurs, “Who’s the boss around here?” I’m looking into it a bit. I see it as an experiment in getting rid of the supernatural, which is an admirable objective. GROG
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Except what is going on with China and its Uighur population is not in any way an admirable objective!
Whether is was a Creator Deity or Nature that began life on our planet, it is the act of merely being alive that gives human beings an inalienable right to life, liberty and property. Our Founders recognized that and set up a form of government that reflected that Enlightened concept. The “Creator” does not represent God or any deity, but it can. That is left to each citizen’s own concept.
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There are two things that are admirable about what Xi Jinping is trying to do:
#1 Get rid of a supernatural ruler.
#2 Bring the Uighurs into the 21st century along with the rest of China.
There is much to be learned here and the Chinese are masters at changing peoples minds. GROG
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Yes, a lot to be learned from the Chinese concerning reeducation camps where people are “encouraged” to change their ways.
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Certainly the West is trying to make it out as though it were any of their business. How many millions are in US prisons? Of course they are convicted felons? GROG
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A non-sequitor.
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The United States the most divided and divisive country in the world, and we work at making it so. It does my heart good to see unity as a goal. I know our prison system is not the same type of experiment in education as the Uighur plan, but it is a plan for unity while the US prison system is for division and $$$. GROG
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Wow! Grog, you are obviously all for the Globalist Agenda, right?
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And what, Grog, do you believe is China’s ultimate goal in all of its various international dealings, as well as its programs at home? We damned well better make it our business or we will find ourselves learning Mandarin just to keep our heads above water…if we are allowed to play in the pool still.
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China will do what China can do to unify China. I can’t be interested in that, but I admire their effort. What interests me is the tactics they are using to erase allah. The supernatural is under siege by the CCP. In China there is no higher power! btw It is very peaceful in Xinjiang these days. GROG
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China wants to be THE power in the world, not just in China. What China has and is doing is to further that goal. When human beings must act and speak and behave in a manner that is dictated to them or else they lose liberty, property, life, jobs, their futures and their children’s futures and when this is made possible because of spyware technology….yes, I suspect things would be very peaceful.
That you think this is a most excellent idea is disturbing. In your desire to GROG you believe this might work and should be adopted by others…yes?
Wow!
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GROG: Getting rid of the delusion of the supernatural is an admirable objective. That, to my mind, should be the objective of every nonbeliever. This scam of resurrection is not only delusional, but destructive. Get with the program atheists. Get rid of the delusion of being so special that death is but passing from here to an eternal afterlife. GROG
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Forced re-education is not the way to solve the condition of deity belief. Freedom to think and discuss is. And, what China is doing is not about eliminating deity belief, but is about total control of people’s lives and futures.
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Haha, no shit! China’s goal is to have a completely controlled populace in the near future thanks to technological savvy bought from the technological spy master, Google. But first, they came for the Uighurs…
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This is a rather interesting study in AI. Face recognition is coming everywhere with AI monitoring all the action. Is big brother satan or jesus? GROG
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It is total control of others by the elite using spyware technology and the “study” as you call it will spread to the rest of the Chinese populace until all are under the control of those elites chosen to be in power currently. Of course, should any of those misstep, then the fall will be, if not fatal, at least final and will involve all their family.
What is it that such a system is called? A dictatorship?
And, you want it to come to a place near you?!
Big Brother has always just been human, however that human may be enhanced by available technology. No unsubstantiated supernatural entities needed for evil to flourish.
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Stop making sense. You’re persecuting all the christians you evil heathern.
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What a bizarre statement, Anonymous.
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May I suggest a bit of investigation as to what is going on in Xinjiang? Communism is an atheistic -ism. I am not a communist, but I certainly go along with the CCP’s efforts to eliminate belief in
a higher power! Which btw has been screwing up humanity for centuries! GROG
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Then you go along with reeducation camps, which brainwash those who think incorrectly into thinking correctly, is that correct? Whom would you choose to be reeducated, GROG? Whom do you think should be doing the choosing of others if not you?
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It seems you want to cross exam me and start an argument. Read what I wrote and then go find out for yourself what you think and then maybe we might get somewhere. GROG
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Not going to argue. I know what I think about China, just as I know what I think about Cuba and Venezuela. I have read enough to know that China is not the least bit friendly to the individual and is proceeding with their plan to monitor their people in order to control all of them, their thoughts, their reading, their travel, their habits, their reading and viewing. And…if they do not fall into line with what is wanted by China, they are punished, reeducated, denied freedom to chose, to leave, to have, to plan and so are their children.
China has upped the game considerably using spyware technology that most find harmless and just really nifty, like NEST from Google.
I am just amazed that you think any of this is a good thing for humanity anywhere and also amazed that you don’t think you and your family might be included some day in a state plan controlled by the elites.
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I see this as a concentrated effort to eliminate belief in the supernatural. The CCP is doing the same thing with the Christians, but in a much softer way because the Christians are not producing terrorists the way the Muslims have been. What we see in the Middle East is what the CCP is preventing Xinjiang Uyghurs from participating in. Xinjiang has long been a Chinese province, but Uyghurs have never assimilated. Whose civil rights are being violated the worst? GROG
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