Thought of the Day 10.05.09

Americans love their rights. Unfortunately, too many Americans don’t understand what rights are for. They commonly think that rights exist so we can do whatever we want to do. Although this is what it means to have a right, it is never the reason God gave us that right. In truth, rights are always given to protect the most virtuous use of a freedom, not just any use of it.

For instance, property rights are not granted by God just so we can do whatever selfish things we like with our money. Instead, God gives us property rights so that we can use them to imitate Him by helping other people through interpersonal charity. We must be free to be selfish, but the purpose of that freedom is for us to not be selfish.

See, it’s a good thing to remind the world that we have God-given rights and to demand that a society protect them. But it’s an even better thing to remind people why God gave us those rights in the first place. Because when enough of us don’t use them properly, we make the best case against ourselves for having them taken away.