Original Sin, Total Depravity Anti-Constitutional? by slaveofone
I was thinking about the idea of original sin and total depravity the other day… I also started thinking about the foundations of my system of government, framed in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Then I started wondering if maybe there could be a major disconnect between the basic foundational principles of my nation and its system of government and original sin or one of the basic tenets of Calvinism.
Original sin and total depravity seem to resonate with Hobbes when he spoke of the natural state of humanity. Obviously, Hobbes disagreed with Augustine and Calvin in that those men believed there was something called Goodness existing as a supreme moral objective measurement outside of and apart from humanity. However, there does seem to be a parallel in terms of the outworking of original sin, total depravity, and Hobbes’ conceptions. For just as natural humanity cannot or does not tend toward any good according to Hobbes, so the idea behind original sin or total depravity seems to be that humanity naturally cannot or does not tend toward goodness either.
The Founding Fathers, however, did not follow Hobbes. Their opposing position (after John Locke) was not only that human nature had an absolute moral authority, but this morality was part and parcel of the nature of humanity itself so that humanity naturally knew right from wrong apart from any kind of law or government and did, in fact, tend toward or attain goodness. And because moral goodness was something we can know and something we can put into place naturally, government therefore does not provide us with the methods or means to become good (goodness doesn’t begin with law).
This stood in contrast to Hobbes, who’s conception of humanity’s nature meant that government or law was the reason for morality, virtue, or goodness. The logical end of the two sides is that under Hobbes and so it seems under original sin or total depravity, one must give up their natural rights, their natural morals, or their natural human condition in exchange for that goodness, freedom, or right that are granted from a Sovereign, whereas for the Founders, the Sovereign made goodness inherent and inalienable
to the nature of humankind so that in forming government or law, humanity didn’t give up freedom or right in exchange for goodness, but rather to better protect, secure, and prosper the goodness already present.
I am therefore left to ponder whether or not those who hold to the dogmas of either original sin or total depravity are fundamentally opposed to the very principle on which the government of the United States is established.