In common parlance, “rights” can be understood to describe all kinds of legal protections afforded to individuals. “Rights” can mean political participation in democratic governance, i.e. “voting rights.” “Rights” can also mean protections granted by positive law to citizens because of their equal status under the law, i.e. “civil rights.” But sometimes, “rights” are based on higher, more authoritative philosophical considerations, i.e. “inalienable rights.”

For instance, the philosopher John Locke argued that “property rights” must be recognized by the government because just claims of land ownership are inherent in the laws of nature. Shelter is essential to survival, and the ability of the individual to freely tender their land and develop their abode is essential to human flourishing.

“Parental rights” are different. They do not belong to all individuals by virtue of their status as individuals. Rather, parental rights are only active in certain conditions and result from an authority granted by a superior. In the Book of Exodus, God inscribes the authority of parents to direct the upbringing of their children in the Ten Commandments: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Moreover, Proverbs 22:6 instructs parents to “[t]rain up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” The New Testament affirms parental authority in the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

Scripture speaks strongly about parents who abuse or neglect their authority as the caretakers of their children in 1 Timothy: “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Parents have the right to direct their children’s upbringing because of the authority granted to them by God. However, Scripture is clear that parents who neglect or abuse their authority deny their faith.