One of the commonly repeated errors is that the God of the Declaration and, subsequently, the Constitution was a deist idea of God. To refute this I will refer to the Declaration itself and see.
"We ,therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions..."
"And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence..."
Alright, the deist essentially believes that God created the world and now is hands off. He set it in motion and now has nothing to do with it. He's not really interested in the lives of men, He does not supernaturally intervene, but rather allows the laws of nature to run the show. Ok, but they appealed to God for hte rectitude of their intentions, which I take to mean that they laid their cause for Him to judge, with the implication being that if God judged it to be unjust they would lose. They also relied on the protection of divine providence. Problem is the deist doesn't believe in divine providence. The deist believes that things run according to the course of nature.
I cannot see how the Declaration, asserting that rights are gotten from God, is built upon a deist God, but rather must be built upon the very God of heaven that you and I worship.
"We ,therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions..."
"And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence..."
Alright, the deist essentially believes that God created the world and now is hands off. He set it in motion and now has nothing to do with it. He's not really interested in the lives of men, He does not supernaturally intervene, but rather allows the laws of nature to run the show. Ok, but they appealed to God for hte rectitude of their intentions, which I take to mean that they laid their cause for Him to judge, with the implication being that if God judged it to be unjust they would lose. They also relied on the protection of divine providence. Problem is the deist doesn't believe in divine providence. The deist believes that things run according to the course of nature.
I cannot see how the Declaration, asserting that rights are gotten from God, is built upon a deist God, but rather must be built upon the very God of heaven that you and I worship.