The Declaration of Independence, a document hundreds of years old, written by a group of men known as the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, provides a great deal of information regarding the worldview of these same gentlemen.  Worldview, you will remember was defined in the post dated March 11, 2015 as:  1) the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world or 2) a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.  It was also pointed out that the German word, weltanschauun, combines both meanings by describing a comprehensive conception or image of the universe and humanity’s relation to it. All human beings, whether they admit it or not, whether they think about it or not, whether the term worldview is in their vocabulary or not, whether or not whatever,  All Human Beings Have A Worldview.

What is yours?  What is your worldview?  When the author considers possible worldviews , only two legitimate possibilities come to mind.  One possibility is that the universe including all life (plants, animals, etc.) as well as all lifeless objects is purely an accident.  The other possibility is that some being greater than man made the universe including all life as well as lifeless objects.  Some might respond, ” Trying to determine where all of this including myself came from is above my pay grade”.  Well, it’s all above my pay grade as well, and that is precisely the point.  It’s also a copout.  Think about and make a decision.  One’s worldview is important.

Regardless of your worldview, or the author’s, it is obvious that at least the majority of the Founding Fathers agreed on a worldview. The Founding Fathers shared a common belief regarding the beginning of the earth, other planets, the sun, moon, stars and all of life.  It’s obvious that the Founding Fathers didn’t believe the beginning of all that we know to exist was due to a cosmic explosion of some unknown origin.  Upon examination of the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence it is obvious that the Founding Fathers believed that existing somewhere is a Great Being more intelligent, more powerful, and more creative than any human being, or any group of human beings.  A Great Being, a Creator, that endowed all of mankind, every human being that has lived, is alive, or will be alive, “with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Is this a valid belief?  Does a Creator exist?  That decision is up to you, dear reader.  You are free.  You have liberty.  Free will is at your disposal.  Make a decision.  Stop standing on the fence.  The gift of life is freedom.  Choice.  And the Founding Fathers believed this freedom  to make one’s own choices in life, was not a gift of some government established by man.  The Founding Fathers believed that freedom and free will to be the ultimate gift of the Great Being they referred to in the Declaration of Independence as the Creator.  And so the Fathers declared the freedom of the citizens of the United States from the heavy yoke of the king of England.