What is Natural Law?
Natural law is the understanding that people inherently have certain rights, moral values/duties, and responsibilities that are embedded in and inseparable from human nature, and it was first elucidated by the Greeks: Aristotle, Plato and the Stoics. It is a philosophical theory that is considered universally obvious to all humans as it is rooted in the self-evident reality of design and purpose. In the mid 1200’s AD, Thomas Aquinas laid the groundwork for Natural Law with his Five Ways that still stands today as the foundation for current philosophers.
James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, drafter of the US Constitution, and an original justice on the US Supreme Court, appointed by George Washington.
Examples of Natural Law are that it is wrong to kill a innocent person, that wrong doing must be punished (the concept of justice) and that the natural order of a sexual relationship is between a man and a woman, as that is the inherent design of the human body, with the purpose being to continue the human species. These have been universally accepted and understood throughout all of human history and in all cultures, even when occasionally ignored (keep in mind that just because moral laws aren’t always followed doesn’t mean they don’t exist).
The understanding of Natural Law is important because it reveals purpose, design and moral values…which implies a personal Creator without appealing to the Christian Bible and thus cannot be so easily dismissed by the secular naysayer. “Laws of nature” (not to be confused with Natural Law) such as the law of gravity are only descriptive, not prescriptive. In other words, they describe what has or will happen based on physics, but they don’t prescribe what should or ought not to happen (moral values), and they don’t come with obligations (moral duties), as you can’t be obligated to a natural force such as the law of gravity, only to a person.
Natural Law was the objective, transcendent authority that the Founders of the United States appealed to when justifying their right to cut ties with Great Britain and become a self-determined nation. Read more about that here: Who Is Your Authority?
Throughout the thousands of years of human history, Natural Law has been observed internally, in the guiding moral conscience that resides within every person, and externally in the design, beauty, order and majesty of the world and heavens.
Naturally, we ascribe Natural Law to God, as no impersonal force of nature can impose moral values of right and wrong actions, nor give human rights. If there is no God, there is no objective purpose to life. If there is no objective purpose, then there are no objective rights, freedoms, good or bad or right and wrong actions.
As Fyodor Dostoevsky so famously put it: “If there is no God, everything is permitted.”