Divine source, perhaps, but certainly not the God of the Bible, but rather a diestic "creator" or "nature's God."
Paul FInkelman Quoting Francis Beckwith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Very good questions. I think one could teach the logic of the > Declaration > without saying that it is true. For example, I frequently > lecture on > thinkers and arguments that I don't think are correct, but I > do so because I > would not be a virtuous teacher. On the other hand, it may be > that some > religious beliefs are more consistent with a just regime than > others. For > example, from your perspective a religion that taught its > adherents that the > state should teach in its schools the true religion would be a > religion that > is mistaken about the nature of the state. > > Frank > > On 12/18/04 3:23 PM, "Ed Brayton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > Francis Beckwith wrote: > > > >> The declaration says three things about rights: > >> > >> 1. That they are self-evident > >> 2. That they are inalienable > >> 3. That they have divine source > >> > >> So, Ed seems to be suggesting that we jettison teaching the > third because > >> there is no principled way to teach it with out implying > the falsity of > >> other takes on God and rights. But, as you know, there are > many who > >> challenge the inalienability and self-evidence of rights > precisely on the > >> grounds that if rights have these non-material properties, > it seems that > >> some form of non-naturalism must be the case and theism is > a form of > >> non-naturalism. So, there's good reason to ignore 1 and 2 > as well since it > >> may lead one to think that theism has a lot more going for > it in grounding > >> rights than let's say materialism. > >> > > > > I'm not suggesting that we not teach that this is the > philosophy behind > > the Declaration, I'm just saying that if we allow teachers > to advocate > > that the theological position is true, how do we prevent > them from > > advocating any other theological position? If we cannot do > so, then > > we'll have quite a mess on our hands as Muslim teachers > teach their > > students that the Quran is true, for instance, or atheist > teachers teach > > that the bible is false. From a practical standpoint, this > clearly isn't > > workable, but at the same time you cannot constitutionally > say that we > > will allow teachers to teach some theological positions but > not others. > > How would you address that question, which was at the core > of what I said? > > > > Ed Brayton > > _______________________________________________ > > To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, > see > > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > > > > Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be > viewed as private. > > Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are > posted; people can > > read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or > wrongly) forward the > > messages to others. > > > > _______________________________________________ > To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, > see > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > > Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be > viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read > messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; > and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages > to others. > Paul Finkelman Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law Univ. of Tulsa College of Law 2120 East 4th Place Tulsa OK 74104-3189 Phone: 918-631-3706 Fax: 918-631-2194 _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
