Why do Americans celebrate the 4th of July?
July 4, 1776 is the date on the
Declaration of
Independence. That document is based on such
dubious philosophical premises, it is a wonder that educated people would
celebrate its signing.
The
Declaration
opens with the notion that the "Laws of Nature
and of Nature's God" can entitle a group of people to a "separate and equal
station". The laws of nature do not have political implications and there is no
such thing as "nature's god". At least no one has discovered such an entity in
the natural world.
The notion of
"nature's god" becomes the notion of a "creator" in the second paragraph, where
it is asserted that it is
self-evident
that all men (which apparently meant "white males") are created equal and that
they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. If it were
self-evident that men were endowed with certain rights
by a
creator, then it would be self-evident that
there was a
creator capable of making such an endowment.
If the existence of such a creator were
self-evident,
it would be almost universally accepted by rational, educated people, but that
is not the case; so it is not self-evident that men were endowed with rights by
a creator.
The
Declaration
ends with "a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence", a notion
just as dubious as those other religious notions with which it begins.
Fortunately, this religious nonsense was removed when the
Constitution
was written.
Posted: Monday - July 04, 2005 at 09:10 PM