A discussion with one commenter on this site brought up this topic.  What is the difference between natural rights and civil rights?  This is a great topic.  It is exactly the kind of thing this web site is all about.

The short answer to the question is that natural rights come from God, and civil rights come from society.

The long answer of course is deeper.

In the US when we talk about natural rights, we are talking about the famous rights, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, if you were to ask 20 different people what that phrase means, you would get 20 different answers, all of them wrong.

First, we need to know what a right is in general.  A right is a permission granted to you to use something that does not belong to you.  Property ownership is a good example of this.

We do not own property in the sense that it becomes an extension of us.  My hand is an extension of me.  My car is not.  Property belongs to the universe, to God in other words.  Society can control who can use property and in what ways.  When we acquire real estate we are not making it a part of ourselves, rather we are being granted rights by society to access, use and control that property.  If we act against society’s understanding of rights, society has the ability to punish us.

The ability to punish people for violating rights is at the heart of the idea of rights.

Natural rights come only from God.  Only God can create life itself.  (Through science, we can create living things, but we cannot create life itself.)  Only God can create conscience (liberty).  Only God can create the purpose and satisfaction in living itself (happiness).   We mortals cannot.  All these things are part of the universe, and belong to God’s domain; they are gifts granted to us by God for God’s purposes.

With these rights come punishments, because without punishment, there are no rights.  Punishment makes clear the limits on rights.   When we do things that are unnatural to life, God punishes us with death.  When we act against conscience, God punishes us with madness.  When we act against our purpose and satisfaction in living, God punishes us with suffering.

The principle of Natural Law means we have the right to do those things that are necessary and reasonable to protect our natural rights; our life, our freedom to act according to conscience, our freedom to pursue our purpose and satisfaction in living, etc.  Natural law is implied by the fact of our natural rights.  Natural law is the foundation of the United States Constitution.

Civil rights come from society.  The choices of conscience and happiness we make as a society come from us mortals, not from God.  We choose whether or not to have slavery.  We choose whether or not to do certain acts that we are capable of committing.  We define the punishments (imprisonment, etc.) the members of our society receive for committing acts that violate those rights.

If someone is clever enough, they can escape punishment for violating civil rights, perhaps by their hiding illicit acts, or perhaps by bribing the punishers.  Punishment for violating natural rights is certain and cannot be escaped.  You cannot hide from God, nor can you bribe God.

We have the natural right to life.  This means that God has granted us this gift.  It is not a part of us. We do not own it.  We do not choose to be human.  We do not choose to have the ability to understand language.  We reach out and grab a glass of water, and we have not created the physics and biology that allow us to do so.  We make choices, and we have not created our ability to make choices.  All these things and infinitely many more are part of life.  All these things come from God, not us.

Life does not begin after an individual is born.  It began with the creation of the universe because it is part of the universe.  All arguments about what stage of development a person ceases to be an embryo or fetus, and begins to be a human are moot.  Life began with the creation of the universe.  All human life is sacred from conception until the memory of that life fades from society.  How society addresses punishments for acts committed on living humans before birth is the society’s civil rights, not natural rights.  Unlike natural rights, civil rights are not perfect.  Civil rights can violate natural rights.

We have the natural right to liberty.  Liberty is not the right to choose between a red car or a blue car.  Liberty is the right to choose according to conscience.  Liberty is the right to act according to our sense of right and wrong.

We have the natural right of the pursuit of happiness.  That is one of those old phrases that means something different today than it did 200-plus years ago.  A pursuit in this case is a pursuit in the sense of being a trade or hobby.  Our human nature is designed, by God, to satisfy a purpose.  Happiness means satisfying that purpose.  Our pursuit of happiness is our ongoing lifelong effort to find satisfaction of our purpose in life.

So there you have it.  If someone asks you what the phrase “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” means, can you give the right answer?   Do you now understand the difference between natural rights and civil rights?

Stumble it!