Politics > Clarence Thomas

Justice Thomas Defends Our God-Given Rights

And warns of progressivism’s threat to America.

J.B. Shurk | April 19, 2026

During a speech commemorating the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told an audience in Austin, Texas, last week that progressivism threatens America’s system of government:

Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government.  It holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God but from government.  It requires of the people a subservience and weakness incompatible with a constitution premised on the transcendent origin of our rights.

Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government.  It holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God but from government.  It requires of the people a subservience and weakness incompatible with a constitution premised on the transcendent origin of our rights.

It is unfortunately rare these days to hear any public figure describe the threats of “progressivism” so clearly.  At its heart, progressivism is a worldview that elevates man’s will above everything else.  It assumes that if the right people — the smartest, best people — are allowed to design human systems in the correct ways, then humans will flourish.  Consulting God to find correct governing solutions undermines progressives’ fundamental belief in themselves.  To admit that a divine authority exists is to admit that progressivism is a pale imitation of that authority.  Because progressivism presumes to be capable of acquiring all knowledge and applying that knowledge in perfect ways, it is incapable of deferring to God’s will.  Progressives must replace God with themselves.  

In practice, it is quite easy to see how progressives’ deification of themselves plays out in the public square.  Progressives are obsessed with promoting the lie that there can be no overlap between a government official’s duties and that official’s religious convictions.  They scream about the supposed inviolable “separation” of Church and State, as if the Constitution were written for a godless people and an atheistic........

© American Thinker