Wrong on rights.

• Author: Hansen, Bill
• Position: Letters to the Editor - Letter to the editor

It's not Paul Ryan who is completely "wrong on rights," as Matthew Rothschild entitled his Editor's Note for November, but Rothschild himself.

As a fellow atheist I agree that our rights don't come from "God." But I don't believe Thomas Jefferson's Creator is the same as Ryan's God. Instead, Jefferson was referring to "Nature's God," not the Christian God. Jefferson argues we are endowed at birth with natural rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Rothschild's interpretation of Nature was disingenuous. He makes natural rights sound like survival of the fittest.

By making We, the...