“Citizen” Kaine: A God-Given Right to Be Wrong

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The very first line of the United States of America’s first founding document, the Declaration of Independence, clearly 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.”

Just before the signatures of 56 Founding Fathers, this supremely significant and historic document makes clear exactly what was at stake for the new Republic:

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

Eleven years later, on September 17, 1787, those “unalienable Rights” of every American were enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. But recently, the legitimacy of those God-given rights and our nation’s fundamental belief in “natural law” have been challenged by a U.S. Senator.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 election, sparked widespread backlash and criticism after stating during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on September 3, 2025, that the idea of God-given rights is “extremely troubling.”

Kaine made the remarks in response to Riley Barnes, a nominee for assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, who echoed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s assertion that the U.S. was founded on the principle that rights come from God, not government.

Now in his third term as Virginia’s junior senator, Kaine argued that the belief rights come from the Creator is akin to the ideology of the Iranian government, which he described as a theocratic regime that uses its interpretation of divine law to justify oppression of religious minorities:

“The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator — that’s what the Iranian government believes.” He further warned that defining rights as natural or God-given could lead to arbitrary interpretations depending on religious tradition, potentially undermining equal protection under the law.

Despite claiming to be a “strong believer in natural rights,” Kaine emphasized that legal protections, such as those in the Constitution and the 14th Amendment, are the true foundation of rights in the United States. He pointed to the Supreme Court’s motto, “equal justice under law,” as evidence that American rights are grounded in legal frameworks rather than theological doctrines.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, quickly rebuked Kaine, noting that the principle he criticized is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Cruz shared on social media: “Government protects our God-given rights, it does not create or destroy them.”

Religious leaders also pushed back, with Bishop Robert Barron calling Kaine’s remarks “outrageous and really so dangerous to our democracy,” emphasizing that Jefferson’s view was that government exists to secure pre-existing, God-given rights.

Commentators observed the irony that Kaine, a senator from the state of Thomas Jefferson (who wrote the Declaration of Independence), James Madison, and George Mason — all of whom grounded rights in a Creator — would reject this foundational American principle. Critics argue that if rights originate from government, they can also be revoked by it, undermining their inalienable nature.

In a column for the political website The Hill, Jonathan Turley, a legal scholar and professor at George Washington University Law School, wrote that Kaine’s comments were “not just ill-informed but would have been considered by the founders as constitutionally blasphemous.”

“(T)he Declaration of Independence (and our nation as a whole) was founded on a deep belief in natural laws coming from our Creator, not government,” Turley said. “Kaine represents Virginia, the state that played such a critical role in those very principles that he now associates with religious fanatics and terrorists.”

Turley continued, “In fact, Kaine’s view did exist at the founding — and it was rejected. Alexander Hamilton wrote that ‘The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.’”

American Christians should be troubled when lawmakers argue that laws come from government rather than God because this strikes at the very foundation of both our nation’s heritage and biblical truth. Here are some key reasons for that concern:

The Declaration of Independence is rooted in God-given rights.
The Founders explicitly affirmed that human rights are “endowed by their Creator” and that government’s role is to secure those rights, not invent or redefine them. If rights come only from government, then government can take them away at will. But if they come from God, they are unalienable — beyond the reach of politicians.
Biblical authority over human authority.
Romans 13 teaches that all governing authority is established by God, and rulers are His servants to do good. Government is not ultimate; God is. When lawmakers deny God as the source of moral order, they effectively reject their accountability to Him. That opens the door for laws shaped by shifting political winds rather than timeless truth.
Erosion of religious liberty.
If rights are government-granted, freedom of religion, conscience, and speech become negotiable privileges instead of permanent protections. This is why Christians often find themselves battling efforts to restrict Christian expression in the public square.
A worldview shift with dangerous consequences.
History shows that when nations replace God with government as the highest authority, tyranny follows. Totalitarian regimes — from communist dictatorships to secular socialist states — consistently suppress faith, family, and freedom.
Christians are called to be watchmen.
In Ezekiel 33, God commands His people to sound the alarm when danger approaches. When leaders deny God’s role in law, believers must raise their voices, reminding society that true justice, dignity, and liberty only flourish when grounded in God’s truth.

In conclusion, if laws come from the government, they are temporary and fragile. If laws come from God, they are eternal and secure. For American Christians, the stakes are nothing less than whether our nation will continue to recognize our Creator as the ultimate source of truth, rights, and justice. In the United States — and in this case —Sen. Tim Kaine has a God-given right to be wrong.

Source material:

The Declaration of Independence (National Archives)

The Constitution of the United States (National Archives)

The Mark of Kaine (JonathanTurley.org)