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ENDOWED BY OUR CREATOR
The Bible, Science, and the
Battle for America's Soul
By John G. West
"John West reminds us
that the Founding Fathers meant that our rights come from our Creator. Our
current crisis of culture and spirit will only be healed by the return to those
Creator-endowed rights."
--Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
The Declaration of Independence proclaims that "all men are created equal" and "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." For generations, those hallowed words inspired not only Americans, but millions around the globe. Yet today many Americans are skeptical or confused about the Declaration's key claims.
In Endowed by Our Creator, political scientist John G. West explores the original meaning of the Declaration and shows how its propositions drew support from both the Bible and early modern science. He then documents how science was later misused to overturn the Declaration's teaching on equality, subvert its understanding of liberty, and justify the creation of a technocratic state that regulates us from cradle to grave. Finally, he reveals new scientific discoveries that are pointing us back to the truths expressed in the Declaration - and he explains why it is urgent that our culture recover them.
In Endowed by Our Creator, John answers these critical questions that every American and future American should know:
· Why is the Declaration of Independence so
crucial to America?
· What battle is raging right now over the
Declaration on both the left and right?
· What are the Declaration's most important
ideas?
· Were America's Founders lying or stupid when
they claimed that "all men are created equal?" Didn't they know that
humans are unequal in all sorts of ways?
· Were America's Founders hypocrites when they
claimed that "all men are created equal?" After all, didn't they own
slaves?
· How did the Founders draw on the science of
their day to make one of the Declaration's biggest claims?
· Why did the Founders think it so important
that our rights come from God? Why is this idea controversial in today's world?
· What did the Founders mean by claiming that we
have "unalienable" rights?
· How did new ideas from science challenge the
authority of the Declaration before the Civil War?
· How did the rise of Darwinian biology lead to
the repudiation of the principles of the Declaration after the Civil War and
the creation of a big government run by unaccountable experts?
· Do Americans today still believe in the ideas
proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence?
· How are the latest findings of science now pointing back to the key truths proclaimed by the Declaration?
Endowed by Our Creator will make you want to revisit Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and relive every thrilling moment as James Stewart, himself a hero, visits the Declaration at the Library of Congress and later reads from the Declaration during his filibuster on the Senate floor. American patriots and future Americans alike will be reinvigorated by the passion with which our heroes lived and died for the truths that makes the U.S. the greatest country on Earth.
"An important and
wide-ranging book... It couldn't be timelier as we approach America's 250th
anniversary celebration."
--David Limbaugh, New York Times Bestselling Author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John G. West is Vice President of Discovery Institute and the Distinguished Scholar of American Government and Christian Civic Engagement at Cornerstone University. He formerly chaired the Department of Political Science at Seattle Pacific University, and he holds a PhD in Government from Claremont Graduate University. His previous books include Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, Darwin Day in America, The C.S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia, The Politics of Revelation and Reason, and The Magician's Twin: C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society.
