According to Dr. Harry Binswanger, John Locke made a major contribution to the origin of the principle of individual rights. Although his justification is fundamentally religious, Binswanger argues that Locke was not a traditional Christian: he viewed God as valuing men’s earthly happiness and productivity, creating them naturally equal and independent. This view has implications for Locke’s question about what government is and why man needs it. He projects man without government in a “state of nature” and examines the problems this would entail. Government arises not through a divine right of kings, but because the lives of equal and independent men are valuable and require protection.