THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE—and Paul’s epistle to the Romans in particular—contradicts the Declaration and the Constitution in another respect. It holds that governments are “established by God.”58 “By me,” meaning by the biblical god, “kings reign” and “rulers rule,” says the bible.59 The Declaration of Independence is based on a different idea: that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed.” This is the very foundation of the self-government ideal and an explicit rejection of a god-given government. That rejection is embodied (and rather
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