Natural law is the
belief that mankind’s rights come from our Creator and not from a king, which
is fundamental to understanding America’s unique founding, but the sudden
interest in that civics lesson appears to be tied to a presidential election
year and Donald Trump.
In what appears to be an election-year bid to smear politically active Evangelicals, the Left is running with the term “Christian nationalist” to describe politically conservative people who attend church regularly and believe in national sovereignty. One election-year example is the “God and Country” documentary that ominously warns Democrats their MAGA neighbors are nutty and dangerous fascists who want to strip away their rights.
In a similar discussion panel on MSNBC, Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla warned the panel of fellow liberals to prepare for a troubling shift in the Republican Party, which she said is led by an “extremist element” of Christians who are “orbiting Trump” as Election Day draws closer. What unites those conservative Christians, she went on to warn, is the belief that our rights as Americans “do not come from any Earthly authority,” meaning from a legislature or a court, but from God, she said, referring to natural law and presumably to the Declaration of Independence. “The problem with that is that they are determining - men are determining – what God is telling them,” she continued, referring to Christian leaders who have Trump’s ear.
Citing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who cited natural law to fight Jim Crow laws, Przbyla said abortion and same-sex marriage are examples of an “extremist element of conservative Christians” applying natural law in the culture and in politics.
Przbyla was likely invited to discuss “Christian nationalism” on MSNBC after she co-wrote a Politico article that published Feb. 20. That story ominously warned that people affiliated with Trump’s presidential campaign are planning to implement “Christian nationalism” in a second Trump term if he wins the White House again.
In a response to Przybyla’s MSNBC appearance, which he posted on X, Catholic Bishop Robert Barren summarized her argument: Przybyla was claiming some religious “weirdos” are endangering democracy by citing natural law to gain power. He called that a dangerous accusation to make because it actually endangers our individual rights while claiming to protect those rights from so-called Christian nationalists. “It is exceptionally dangerous when we forget the principle that our rights come from God and not from a government,” the bishop said. “The basic problem is, if they come from the government or Congress or the Supreme Court, they can be taken away by those same people.”
After the MSNBC clip went viral, Przybla later posted a statement on X denying she was smearing conservative Christians. “I said men are making their own policy interpretation of natural law,” she wrote, likely referring to the Politico story.
Among the many replies to Przybla, Liberty University professor Jason Truett Glen said the Politico reporter was guilty of “duplicity” in her argument. She favors “natural law” when it’s applied to racial justice, he wrote on X, but not when it involves a political issue such as abortion. In fact, the February 20th Politico story took a stab at defining natural law then mixed it with politics. In recent decades, the story said, natural law has been used to “oppose abortion, LGGTQ+ rights and contraception.” “So,” Glen concluded, “the inclination is to then throw all natural law elements out the window.”
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