We have a right to pursue happiness

To the editor:

There seems to be a misunderstanding about our rights and it stems from a single word.

From the Declaration of Independence the source of our rights is defined: '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.”

Conservatism rests upon the principle that unalienable rights cannot be taken away nor granted by governments. They exist with the gift of life itself.

If we accept that these rights are God-given, then there can be no right which stands as repugnant to Him. There is then a problem with 'abortion rights” and other claimed social and political rights that do not exist. Social peace and order is contingent upon the distinction between God-given rights from government privilege.

The drive to instill secularism in our culture is an attack upon the premise of unalienable rights. An atheist is left with the position of denying the existence of his/her unalienable rights.

The declaration does not say that we have rights to 'Life, Liberty, and Happiness.” No one has a God-given right to happiness, but only a right to pursue it. These special rights should never be confused with rights that activists demand from governments, which can be granted or denied at the stroke of a pen. When our rights become contingent upon the stroke of a pen, then we will have regressed to the age of tyrants and monarchs.

Steve Hufferd

Iowa City