I have already argued that inalienable rights do not come from gods. I am going to argue that gods cannot make inalienable rights, no god can, including the ultimate god believed in by western and middle eastern theologies.
An inalienable right is one that cannot be taken away. Theists like to say that rights granted by governments are not inalienable because they can be taken away by government. But the same can be said about rights created or granted by a god, or flowing from a god. Those rights can be uncreated, ungranted, or cease to flow. Those rights cannot be inalienable. And therefore inalienable rights cannot come from gods.
That is my earlier argument and it is quite strong. If the theist's point holds, mine does. But I have a further argument.
Consider what it would take for a god to make an inalienable right. It would require that he make something that he cannot unmake.
But asking a god to make something that he cannot unmake is like asking him to make a burrito so hot that he cannot eat it, or an ocean so deep that he cannot reach the bottom of it. One is asking god to exceed his powers, and that cannot be done. So, the problem of gods and inalienable rights touches on one of the most widely familiar paradoxes of omnipotence.
I can easily make a weight that I cannot lift. God cannot do that due to his omnipotence.
I can make a burrito so hot that I cannot eat it. Omnipotence cannot be exceeded, so it cannot do that.
I can give a gift that I cannot take back due to its being eaten or spent or perhaps it flies away as soon as the box is opened. Because he is omnipotent, God cannot do that. He can reconstitute what is eaten, un-spend what is spent or catch what has flown away.
He appears to lack some of the powers I possess. But this is an illusion. It is his omnipotence which makes it so that his powers cannot be exceeded.
My powers can be exceeded but his cannot. Therefore, God cannot make an inalienable right.
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