A right is something given by God, it is absolute and unchanging throughout time. (as Jefferson said "...endowed by their CREATOR..") They either exist or they don't. If you don't believe in God or don't believe in moral absolutes, then you can't very well believe in rights of any kind.
Basing your rule of law on God will never work long term unless you purge your society of "non-believers" and other heretics. You will also always be at odds with nations that don't share your view of God. That is why this nation was not founded as a religious nation or even pretended to be founded on any one religion.
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
From the Treaty of Tripoli. Ratified by the Senate June 7, 1797, signed by John Adams, 2nd President of the USA, June 10, 1797
Jefferson also referred to CREATOR in the Diest sense. I can serve up quotes all day from the founding fathers decrying religion and its need to be kept away from government. If Jefferson wanted to say GOD he would have said it. Saying CREATOR is a simple way of saying they believe all men are born with these rights. For any who wish to argue they can then consider CREATOR to be their God, Jehova, Yawee, Allah, Ganesh or Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Why do I take the time to point out this religious disconnect? Because it is important that we understand that the "Rights" some care to believe are given to us by God are, in the eyes of the law and logic, NOT. The only rights (against abuse by the governemnt) you have are the ones that have been written into law and defended, by yourself and or others. If it were simply a matter of God making up the rights then why would Jefferson and company need to write them down in a legal document? Why put them into Amendments in a specific legal method, have them voted on and leave them subject to further amendment? No, those wise men believed all men should have certain rights from birth and to protect those rights from Government usurption they created a document that stated such. You have those rights because those men thought ahead to do so and others fought and shed blood to defend them. You do not have them because God said so. They also believed the governemnt of the people should be abel to change them or add to the powers of Government so they left the mechanism where additional amendments could be enact to change or add to the COTUS. Perhaps you may need to defend those rigths one day. If you do not then they will be lost and all the crying about God having given them to you will mean nothing.
Those who founded other nations feel differently and established laws in accordance with their views of the world. If you maintain that your rights are from God and therefore more valid than the ability of another nation to have their own law then you are no better than the Mullahs in Iran calling for Fundamentalist Islam to be the law of their land and every other. Both of you claim some sort of justification for your acts under God. Both are wrong.
? Ya got the same universal rights in China? Not? How can they be un iversal then?