The 4th of July, Human Dignity, and the Catholic Church

by Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D.

     July 03, 2012 (CatholicLane.com)   Fireworks.  Baseball games.  Picnics.  This is what the 4^th of July means to most Americans today.  But July 4^th, 1776, was a very solemn day for the 55 men who affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.  For in so doing, they were risking their lives and fortunes to defend the proposition that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Liberty was a corollary of human dignity and to safeguard human dignity was the reason for their war of independence.

So what does the 4^th of July have to do with the teaching of the Catholic Church?  Continues…