Simplifying, as best possible, rights are given to people directly by God. We are born with them. Laws, with the exception of the natural law, are man-made. Any man-made law that goes against the natural (God-given) law, i.e., the Ten Commandments of God, is not morally binding. Morality has to do with how we live our lives. Legality has to do with the proper observance or non-observance of man-made laws. A person could be a very moral person and a holy one, besides, even if he did not observe certain man-made laws which are contrary to his conscience based upon his religious beliefs. For example, martyrs to the Faith.
Issues Connected with the Separation of Church and State
When our American Founding Fathers, i.e., George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and many others, established our government, they did so out of their life experience. Originally, they had come here from England where they were ruled by a King. Since England had split from the Catholic Church under King Henry VIII, its religion was the Anglican Faith. The Founders, generally speaking, were not formally religious men. Many of us might refer to them as Deists. Yet, they believed in “freedom of conscience” as a result of their lives’ and religious’ experiences.
Since monarchies, as well as oftentimes, dictatorships do not respect the freedom of people, they established a government that was based on the notions as they expressed them in the Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776. The final form of government, after the Articles of Confederation experiment, that they established was based on the Constitution of the United States of America. In the unanimous declaration by the thirteen states united States of America, we have these famous words:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident…” ~ U.S. Declaration of Independence
Life is our most fundamental right. Liberty is closely akin to it. The pursuit of happiness does not say that we have a right to be happy. It says that we have a right to its pursuit. Rights such as a place to live or the provisions of healthcare result from our right to life.
Man-made laws must respect our God-given consciences or they are not to be followed. Because our Supreme Court in 1971 in the Roe v. Wade decision decided the issue of abortion as it did, it does not mean that we have a right to have an abortion. Immigration laws are man-made and, therefore, need to be interpreted according to our superior rights.
Ultimately, we need to consider cultural issues. Culture is the way we live our lives. The Christian has the responsibility of working to make the environment in the society conducive to the well-being of all of the people. In an ideal world, such would be, for a Christian, in pursuit of the teaching of Jesus Christ.