Who Is God in the Declaration?

Some might think it odd to speak of a “theology” of the Declaration. But we really can’t read it without one. Just consider the text: God is a lawmaker of “the Laws . . . of Nature’s God” and then is the Creator, then the Supreme Judge of the world, and finally divine Providence. Some avoid these references by focusing exclusively on “Nature’s God” to insist there is no theological substance here, only secular rationalism. The Declaration uses those specific words, so the argument goes, intentionally to avoid theological meaning beyond human reason.