Senator Tim Kaine Criticizes Claim That Rights Come from God

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine voiced strong disapproval after a congressional hearing where a nominee stated that American rights derive from God, not the government. Kaine argued that this perspective could lead toward theocratic tendencies, citing Iran’s persecution of religious minorities as an example, where the regime believes it understands natural rights through divine authority.

He pointed to historical figures like Thomas Jefferson, who explicitly recognized that rights are endowed by the Creator—visible in Jefferson’s inscription on his tombstone as the drafter of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the founder of the University of Virginia, and the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson’s Declaration declares that all individuals are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” asserting these rights as self-evident truths. Unlike the current nominee’s stance, Jefferson believed the government’s role was to protect rights that preexist it, not to grant them.

Other Founding Fathers such as John Adams and Alexander Hamilton shared this view, emphasizing that rights are rooted in human nature and divine origin. The philosophy is grounded in Enlightenment thinker John Locke, who argued that humans possess inherent rights and dignity granted by God.

This notion forms the basis of the American constitutional system, which holds that laws should respect pre-existing natural rights. When laws infringe upon these rights, they are illegitimate. Historical advocates of abolition, like William Lloyd Garrison, believed in the inalienable nature of liberty, framing it as divine in origin and unattainable by law alone.

Kaine’s comments suggest a certain ignorance of this history and the philosophical foundations of American rights. The core idea is that rights are natural and preexist government, and laws should serve to uphold them, not define or restrict them.