Our Rights Come from God, Not the State: Roy Moore Schools CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Natural Law

“Our rights do not come from God, your honor,” said CNN’s Chris Cuomo in a televised interview with Judge Roy Moore, “and you know that. They come from man…”

That’s a pretty serious slip of the tongue for the son of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and the brother of current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Chris Cuomo the journalist is a self-identified Catholic who began his education at Immaculate Conception School in Jamaica, Queens, and completed his Juris Doctoris at Jesuit-run Fordham University.  But in a nutshell, Cuomo has demonstrated his ignorance of both Catholic teaching and America’s founding principles.

Here’s the relevant quote from one of America’s most cherished documents, the Declaration of Independence:

“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.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has much to say about the Natural Law and its primacy over the man-made laws of nations.  Here is one helpful mention in §1959:

The natural law, the Creator’s very good work, provides the solid foundation on which man can build the structure of moral rules to guide his choices. It also provides the indispensable moral foundation for building the human community. Finally, it provides the necessary basis for the civil law with which it is connected, whether by a reflection that draws conclusions from its principles, or by additions of a positive and juridical nature.

To be clear, Cuomo failed to distinguish between legal rights (those rights which are conferred upon a person by a given legal system) and natural rights (those rights which are not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of any particular culture or government, and therefore universal and inalienable (and which cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws).

If rights-giving is a legitimate power of the U.S. government–whether that be the Obama Administration, or a future administration as yet unidentified–then the U.S. is really no different from any dictatorship or banana republic around the world, and Christians, who hold a minority viewpoint regarding many flashpoint issues in contemporary society, are in big trouble.

CNN’s morning anchor was arguing with Judge Roy Moore with regard to the constitutionality of same-sex “marriage.”  Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, you may recall, has been in the news this week for refusing to accept same-sex marriage in his state.  According to WorldNetDaily, Moore is not backing away from the state court versus federal court fight over marriage because he believes, constitutionally, the states are allowed to define the institution.

“…And it will remain that way unless the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling on the merits, he contends.

Confusion abounds after the high court on Monday refused to extend a stay to a federal judge’s order that the state of Alabama recognize same-sex marriage.”

In an effort to defend his indefensible claim that rights are a gift to the citizens, to be given or withheld by government mandate, Cuomo  continued:

“That’s your faith, that’s my faith, but that’s not our country.  Our laws come from collective agreement and compromise.”