A fair question, and perhaps a natural one: does an Atheist have to know he has rights, in order for him to have the rights?commonsense wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:12 pm My honest question is do atheists get to have God given rights, and if they do, how does that work?
Certainly, if the Atheist does not even believe he has rights, he's not likely to claim them. And maybe he won't even accord them to others...though I think that's questionable, because I've met plenty of Atheists who do claim rights, and who think others deserve human rights...though I find that they can never provide a reasonable explanation as to why they think that...Their belief ought to rule against it. Thank God, it doesn't always.
In any case, yes, they have all the basic human rights, just like everybody else. Every human being has those rights, whether they claim them or not, and whether they know them or not. That's because the rights are intrinsic, not merely dependent on what they think.
Take, for example, what happened with the abolition of slavery. A lot of the theological rationale for elimination of slavery was to the effect that black people are equally created by God, equally endowed with the dignity as bearers of His image, and equally deserving of freedom as anybody else. Likewise, the rationale for women's rights. And nobody had to ask, "Yeah, but do all slaves believe in rights?" or "Do all women believe in God or rights, or are some of them Atheists?" Because belief has nothing to do with whether or not one deserves the rights; it only changes whether or not the same person has a rationale for why they ought to have those rights.
So a Theist is a creature made for relationship with God. An Atheist is a creature made for relationship with God. The former knows it, and the latter may not. But their ontological status, that is, what they really are, doesn't change: both are human beings, created by God, loved by God, and with whom God desires relationship. As such, they all have rights...equally, regardless of their knowledge.
Fair enough?