Sen. Tim Kaine at confirmation hearing where he denounced the idea that rights come from God

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), despite his Jesuit high school education, has failed Catholicism 101. In a recent confirmation hearing in the U. S. Senate, Riley Barnes, who has been nominated for the position of assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor, spoke of the founding American principle that rights come from God and not from government. Mr. Barnes said, “all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our creator; not from our laws, not from our government.”

Sen. Kaine took exception to this. “The notion,” he said, “that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from government, but come from the Creator – that’s what the Iranian government believes. It’s a theocratic regime that base its rule on Shia (sic) law and targets Sunnis, Bahá’ís, Jews, Christians, and other religious minorities. They do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator. So, the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our government is extremely troubling.”

To be clear, it is and always has been the teaching of the Catholic Church that our rights are based on our dignity as persons made in the image and likeness of God, so our rights come from God, not from governments. In paragraph #1738, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognized as a free and responsible being. All owe to each other this duty of respect. The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and public order.”

Sen. Kaine took heat from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), after Kaine had left the meeting, who pointed out that the notion that rights come from God and not from government is written in the founding document of our government, the Declaration of Independence, the 250th anniversary of which we celebrate next year. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” the Declaration declares, “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Those words, ironically enough, and pointed out by Sen. Cruz, were written by Thomas Jefferson, a Virginian and, like Sen. Kaine, former governor of that Commonwealth. Sen. Cruz used the example of slavery, pointing out that slavery was wrong even though the government said it was legal.

Sen. Kaine was also quickly rebuked by Bishop Robert Barron, bishop of Winona-Rochester, WI who felt the need to speak out against Kaine’s ideas “both as a bishop and as a proud American.” Dr. Jonathan Turley, attorney and instructor on the Constitution at George Washington University, also wrote against Sen. Kaine’s crticism of this founding principle of American democracy. These are only two of the plethora of voices that have condemned Kaine’s statements.

I find it extremely troubling, to borrow Sen. Kaine’s words, that a senator of the United States does not know the Declaration of Independence. I find it extrememly troubling that Sen. Kaine is, apparently, unfamiliar with the fact that the idea that our rights come from God and not from government is a founding principle of our country and our democracy. Government exists, according to Jefferson, to “secure those rights,” not to pretend to create them.

Turley writes that the notion that our rights come from the government is a philosophy called “legal positivism.” Turley says this philosophy did exist at the time of the American Revolution, and it was rejected by our Founding Fathers, for this reason: if the government gives us our rights, then the government can take them away. Turley also writes that legal positivism is making a comeback among some of our less enlightened thinkers who are actually pushing the idea that the Constitution is not a good document, and that freeing ourselves from the Constitution is the better way to go.

There may be a reason Tim Kaine isn’t so enthralled by Jefferson’s language of unalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s the fact that “life” is included among those so-called unalienable rights. Tim Kaine takes as his own the standard position of Catholic politicians who support abortion, while trying also to claim that, in their minds, it’s morally wrong. In other words, they’re trying to eat their cake and have it, too. Kaine’s pro-abortion position is well known, and he regularly gets high marks from pro-abortion political organizations. He justifies his support for abortion “rights” as a Catholic by bringing up the “can’t impose my personal belief on others” card. He said, in an interview with Steve Inskeep during the 2016 presidential campaign that, “I don’t think my job as a public official is to make everybody else follow the Catholic Church’s teaching, whatever their religious background or lack of a religious background.”

Of course, as a Catholic, I could point out to Sen. Kaine that the Church’s teaching on abortion represents the revelation of God on the matter. So, he would not just be making people follow the Catholic Church’s teaching; he would be making people follow the law of God on the matter. And we make people follow laws all that time as a society, including laws not given by God, like how fast we can drive, and that we have to stop when the light turns red, etc. So, why not make people at least follow the laws that God has made, such as you can’t kill innocent people, regardless of their location in the womb. What’s interesting about Sen. Kaine’s “can’t impose my beliefs on others” position is that he had no qualms whatsoever about imposing mandated COVID-19 vaccines on military personnel, resulting in the discharge of over 8000 military men and women from their service to our country because they refused the vaccine, often for religious reasons.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” — Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776

You can read the whole think here. Perhaps you should send a copy to Sen. Tim Kaine.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.