I briefly started reading Fire and Light. I just reached the part where the author discusses the paradoxical nature of a philosopher of Descartes to both be radically skeptical of all except his own existence, yet also be persistent in seeking evidence to argue the existence of God.

A phread the author wrote struck me, "he (Descartes) increasingly pushed divine authority to the fore, as if the ultimate guarantor of both individual minds, and the whole of creation."

I don't know the full philosophical influences of the U.S. founders, but I would be curious if perhaps they recognized this in their own reading of Descartes. It perhaps may even be necessary for a free society that believes that individuals have rights that it be an axiom for them to be God given. Regardless of what that "God" may or may not be.

Nature is messy and dangerous. God, as the one responsible for the human ability to reason, suggests that each individual's ability to reason and agency should be respected because of the source from which it was given.

Lose that foundational brick in society and no man has any reason to respect the agency of another. They are just an animal who is in their way. And we get a regress back toward tribal natures. Humility in the face of such behavior is probably a good weapon against it. Nothing is more terrifying than the person you view as contemptible not behaving in the manner you expect them to.