The Religious Foundations of the Declaration of Independence
By Sean Evans, Chair and Professor of Political Science
Jun 29, 2026 -
On July 4, 1776, a new nation marked its birth by declaring universal truths of liberty, equality, and self-government and by grounding itself in those truths. These truths, many of which are derived from natural law and natural rights theory, are key to our nation’s past success and to sustaining America’s greatness.
The idea of natural rights grew out of the Christian doctrine of natural law. Natural law theory holds that the moral law is written on people’s hearts (Romans 2: 15) because they are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-27). All humans have a conscience and can use reason to determine right and wrong, no matter how sinful they are. This natural law is the basis of political authority, ordains the establishment of government, limits its authority, and is the foundation for human laws.
Natural rights are an extension of natural law. The moral laws governing people’s behavior involve both obligations and entitlements. For example, if one is obliged not to steal or murder, there is a corresponding entitlement not to be robbed or murdered. Over time, these entitlements came to be called natural rights.
Since God’s law and rights are universal, resistance to government can be justified in some circumstances, but who determines rightful possession of power? John Locke, in his Two Treatises of Government, argues that in a state of nature, no one person has authority over another. If one wrongs another, every person is entitled to punish the violator. The problem is that fallen people are bad at enforcing the natural law because they are self-interested. Without a common authority, people resort to violence to settle disagreements (the state of war). To avoid this violence, rational people join civil society and create and consent to a government as a neutral authority to enforce the natural law.
Moreover, this government holds its authority in trust for the community and must act in the public interest. A government that uses its power for its own benefit violates this trust. Yet imperfect humans will always abuse their power. Revolution is justified only if the abuses are so flagrant and persistent that people can conclude the government intentionally violates that trust. At that point, the tyrannical government ceases to be a government at all, and revolution is justified.
These ideas are clearly seen in the Declaration of Independence. We can hold "self-evident" truths because we use reason to determine general revelation/natural law about politics. We have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness because God gave us these rights. When governments become "destructive of these ends," they lose the people's consent, and the people can "alter or abolish them." The 27 lists of abuses in the Declaration demonstrate the "long history of repeated injuries and usurpations ... [in establishing] an absolute tyranny over these states."
For the Founders, liberty, equality, and self-governance had distinct meanings. Liberty is the ability to think and act virtuously without undue constraint. The imago Dei means we are moral equals entitled to equal rights and opportunities regardless of social, economic, religious, or political status.
Self-governance can take many institutional forms, but it begins with governing one’s life and property well, which requires virtue. Consequently, the Founders believed that religion would serve as a bulwark against self-interested people by cultivating moral citizens who would protect freedom, elect virtuous leaders, and limit government. Alexis de Tocqueville expanded on this in Democracy in America, arguing that family and a range of private civic, charitable, cultural, educational, and recreational groups enable citizens to care for others and promote public-spirited values.
Since these principles are aspirational, we have not always lived them out. However, successful reformers, such as abolitionists, suffragists, and the Civil Rights movement, appealed to these principles to convince their fellow Americans to narrow the gap between the ideal and reality. Many times, people of faith led these movements. Alas, people of faith also opposed or remained silent in the face of injustices.
Today, liberty, equality, and self-governance/constitutional democracy are contested concepts. We all accept the general principles but disagree on what they mean and what is required to better reflect them. Progressives define liberty as the ability to shape one’s life as one chooses, whereas individualist conservatives view it as freedom from constraints. We debate whether equality means giving everyone the same opportunities or providing support or resources based on individual needs. Unfortunately, our definitions of democracy often reflect what we think will empower our party (e.g., executive power, voting rights, redistricting, court reform).
As we approach our semiquincentennial, we need to remember how the philosophy of natural law and rights is an undervalued contributor to America's success as the longest-standing continuous democracy. America’s natural rights philosophy is the foundation for liberal democracy and the only revolutionary ideology (e.g., radical democracy, fascism, communism) flourishing today.
To continue flourishing, we must reclaim our Founder’s understanding of liberty, equality, and self-governance. We need to promote ordered liberty that balances freedom with social order by preventing coercion and curbing our unrestrained desires. We need to promote equality of opportunity and remove barriers to self-reliance. We need to restore our separation of powers system so that political actors negotiate to accommodate differences and foster unity. This may require decentralizing authority so state majorities have the flexibility to pursue policies that reflect their values, even if those values are unpopular at the national level.
We also need to reform the party system to empower centrist voters and politicians who better reflect most people, make Congress the primary policymaker, curb the administrative state's power, and return the courts to policing the constitutional structure. An essential part of this plan is to restore the formative cultural institutions of family, work, liberal education, civic engagement, and religious institutions. If we do this, we can increase the likelihood that America will celebrate another 250 years of continuous constitutional government.