The United States Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….”
Self evident is defined as being obvious. These truths are only self evident or obvious if you are a God fearing Christian. The founders were steeped in this culture of church going patriots so it was obvious to them. We no longer take that for granted and thus no longer assume anything to be obvious to anybody. It’s a big world out there.
Self evident also implies inevitability or God given. If these are bequeathed by God and inevitable, then tell that to Jesus. Tortured, mocked, and nailed to the cross, Jesus suffered a humiliating death. He was not protected by these obvious God given truths and neither will we. God is merciful but this life is a test. It’s a test of our will power and our good will. We can find truth through God and need to search for this constantly. Waiting for these truths to appear to us will not work. Waiting for these truths to become self evident to those that would undo us, will also not work.
Third and finally, these self-evident truths rely on endowment from a Creator. That is not a problem for the people that believe in the Pledge of America. It is, however, a problem for a growing and vocal percentage of modern America who do not believe in a Creator. For atheists, the only truths come from physics and everything else is an opinion or at least up for negotiation. For this reason we state our truths in our values and we clearly link our truths to a higher transcendent power. Without God, truth is determined by the powerful in this life. With God, truths are revealed to us through logic and scripture, then truths are affirmed in our ultimate judgement.
“The first casualty of war is truth”
Truths must be discovered and uncovered through diligent work. Truths must also be defended by those of good will. Truth must be the cornerstone of our society. Truths are the ultimate asset of a civilized people. Truth must be earned and defended.