One of the “Outrages of the Day” that has been bombarding my various news feeds is a debate between CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and Judge Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court. More to the point, when the judge says that our rights come from God, Cuomo disagreed.

Transcript borrowed from Breitbart:

MOORE: I believe that’s a matter of law because our rights contained in the Bill of Rights do not come from the Constitution, they come from God. It’s clearly stated –

CUOMO: Our laws do not come from God, your honor, and you know that. They come from man.

MOORE: Let me ask you one question. Let me ask you one question, Chris. Is the Declaration of Independence law?

CUOMO: You would call it organic law as a basis for future laws off of it?

MOORE: I would call it the organic law because the United States code calls it organic law. It is organic law because the law of this country calls it the organic law of the country means where our rights come from. And if they come from there, men can’t take it away.

CUOMO: Our rights do not come from God. That’s your faith. That’s my faith, but not our country. Our laws come from the collective agreement and compromise.

MOORE: It’s not a matter of faith, sir. It’s a matter of organic law, which states, ‘We hold these truths to be held equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ And the only role of government is stated in the next sentence is to secure those rights for us. The government starts taking those rights away from us, then it’s not securing and it is defiling the whole purpose of government.

In this instance, I’m going to say Cuomo is correct. Our rights come to us from being humans. From being a sentient species.

Most of the people believe that God created Man, and therefore human rights come from God. If that’s what gets you through the day, fine. When you then use that idea to decide who does and who doesn’t get rights based on your particular writings of God, we’re going to have a problem. Just as it’s wrong when other members of CNN have advocated the restriction of rights based on political ideology.

We have rights because we are a sentient species. That wouldn’t change if there is or is not a deity or deities responsible for our creation.