Glenn Beck’s speed reading of history apparently hasn’t yet found Jacques-Benigne Bossuet. He advanced the theory of the “Divine Right of Kings”. It’s the theory that some Kings (King Louis XIV specifically) were chosen by God, therefore their Divine authority was beyond question by any human. Since everything is decided by God (Divine Providence), and God chose the King, the King speaks for God. The reaction to this Divine Right was the French Revolution, which occurred shortly after the American Revolution.
The other view of how civilizations organize and are run was the idea of “Natural Law”, with its roots back in Greek and Roman culture and is based on reason, logic, ethics, morality, and rational deductions by observing nature. English Common law, which formed most of the basis of American law, is based on the foundation of natural law, not the belief that your King was chosen by God. Producing children at least at a replacement rate is necessary for a healthy society, and adults must protect the young is an example of a principle of natural law – if you want to see it in action, put yourself between a bear cub and its mother.
The preamble to the Declaration of Independence bases the entire rationale for breaking away from the King of England on the foundation of natural law:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Note again the use of the term “Nature’s God”, not the “God of Moses” or the “God of Abraham”.
Here is a more lengthy explanation of Thomas Jefferson’s perspective on religion, deism and his rejection of “revealed religion” (translation: The Bible)
