Declaring Our Independence on God

Back to Godhead Magazine 1976, Vol 11, Number 7

Two hundred years ago, Americans fought the War of Independence to assure life, liberty, and happiness in a fledgling nation. In a conversation with the BACK TO GODHEAD staff, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains that Americans can actually achieve these things only by maintaining a God conscious society, with God conscious leaders.

BTG: Thomas Jefferson put the basic philosophy of the American Revolution into the Declaration of Independence. The important men of the day who signed this document agreed that there are certain very obvious or self-evident truths; the first of which is that all men are created equal. By this they meant that all men are equal before the law and have an equal opportunity to be protected by the law.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, in that sense men are, as you say, created equal.

BTG: Another point in the Declaration of Independence is that all men are endowed by God with certain natural rights that cannot be taken away from them. These are the rights of life, liberty, and

Srila Prabhupada: But animals also have the right to life. Why don’t animals also have the right to live? The rabbits, for instance, are living in their own way in the forest. Why does the government allow hunters to go and shoot them?