Kathy, This nation was founded by Deists, who mostly were not Christians. This Republic was based on Anglo-Saxon COMMON LAW and Due Process, WRT Individual Rights. Christian England from which we revolted, imposed their religion, that is why people left there, and later revolted, when Christian England imposed taxes, practiced censorship, violated Due Process, and practiced tyranny in myriads of ways. If you tell me that they had their "biblical world view" wrong, I suspect they would disagree, and the only means of resolving this is your force vs their force. Your only basis, you being a "mere" individual, is your assertion of Individual Rights. They're bigger. Respecting Individual Rights means no imposition, no coercion, allowing you to practice your religion as you see fit. Practicing Christianity, as demonstrated by many Christian based governments, does not require anyone to respect Individual Rights.

RBESRQ and Anonymous are each arguing opposite sides of the same counterfeit coin! The right to Life, Liberty and Property are Individual Rights. The "right to redefine marriage", to get equal marriage claims under Social Security, to demand that everyone accept gayness as being as correct and equal or superior to hetersexuality in the views of others, etc is exactly what Douglas was talking about. Then there are the racist Jew-hating comments of 'Anonymous', who believes that man has no rights except as seen by his religion, gee, yet another example of the specialized 'rights' that Douglas warned against. Both view "rights" as giving them the right to impose their rather strange and irresponsible views on others. Consider instead, that any concept of rights is meaningless unless it imposes no demands upon another that he has not consented to, need I point out, without duress. See comments of Mike, Jim, Archer and Ken, above.