To symbolize their identity, other nations build elaborate tombs for their founders, sometimes showcasing embalmed remains — Lenin in the Soviet Union, Mao in China. The United States, as political scientist John West points out in a presentation at the Dallas Conference on Science and Faith, gives treatment like that not to a human being but to a document, the Declaration of Independence.
On display at the National Archives, the Declaration’s ink has faded from past exposure to sunlight. But its truths haven’t faded. On the contrary, while materialists have made war on the ideals of the Founding, and continue to do so, what the Founders understood about reality has come full circle. As Dr. West remarks, in a world sated with bad news, it’s welcome to be able to report something hopeful: “In many ways, I’d argue we’re back to the state of affairs at the time of America’s Founding.”
The American creed, according to the Declaration’s text, is based on the “laws of nature and of nature’s God.” Only a creator could endow us with true equality and with “unalienable rights.” This was not merely a statement of belief or sentiment, but of natural science. And science, in key respects, has reunited with how the Founders understood it.
John West summarizes here but gives a much fuller description in his new book, Endowed by Our Creator: The Bible, Science, and the Battle for America’s Soul. Watch: