In this chapter, we explore Aristotle’s argument for the existence of an Unmoved Mover—the Prime Mover he identifies with God—as the ultimate source of motion and order in an eternal universe. Drawing on his doctrine of the four causes and the transition from potentiality to actuality, Aristotle posits a purely actual, immaterial being that moves all things as a final cause (an object of desire) without itself being moved or changed. This abstract, transcendent entity remains detached from the physical creation it sustains. The following video provides a clear introduction to this concept, serving as a helpful prelude to its application in discussions of God in American thought.

Introduction to Aristotle's Causes of Potential into Actuality

However, the detached Unmoved Mover of Aristotle does not align with the Creator described in America’s founding documents as the efficient cause who actively endows humanity with unalienable rights. Our task, then, is to examine the specific characteristics of the Creator presented in the Declaration of Independence. To do so, we turn to the opening chapter of the Bible—the foundational account in Genesis 1 that depicts God’s creative acts. The biblical text is provided on the left for reference. But imagine rephrasing that same narrative in modern scientific terms: how might it sound? The short video on the right offers a fascinating exploration of precisely this idea.

Genisis, Chapter 1.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

 

After reading the first chapter of God and America, ponder these questions:

Is belief in a Creator who endows humans with unalienable rights a rational position? What arguments support or challenge this view?

Or

Are atheistic and agnostic worldviews rationally defensible? More importantly, how might they ground the existence of objective, unalienable human rights—rights that exist independently of government or majority opinion?

What distinguishes humans from flowers or slugs if all of creation is a ‘cosmic accident’?