Well, to be clear, I am not an atheist.
I have a very strong, very definite, religious faith.
Further, atheism is very much a belief system.
Just because it is a belief that something does not exist in no way means it is any less dependent on faith in an unprovable principle.
That said, I still find absolutely nothing incompatible in a belief in alienable rights no matter your beliefs.
Yes, I absolutely believe my inherent humanity endows me with inalienable rights.
I also absolutely believe my inherent humanity derives from the action of the Creator.
For those who do not believe that second part, nothing funtional changes; they still have that belief in inalienable rights deriving from the inherent humanity of an individual.
Further, because I believe one of the more critical of those inalienable rights is freedom of conscience, I see no contradiction in fully accepting people who believe only the first part, as they are obligated by their own belief to fully accept people who also believe the second part.
And of course, I see that as the particular, objective, genius of the Declaration and Constitution; it actually accepts both types of believers as equal.
Imagine that:
The Founders didn’t care WHY you believed in inalienable rights, they just wanted you to believe in inalienable rights.
