The Great Endowment of Natural Rights

Today, there is a great debate in America over whether our rights are a creation and gift of government or an endowment of God, as Thomas Jefferson famously claimed in the Declaration of Independence. If the latter, what natural rights beyond life, liberty, and the freedom to pursue happiness can we call upon the government to protect? What was God’s original purpose in creating and providing these rights? How do they differ from what are today called “civil” rights? How do we preserve our natural rights against the onslaught of atheistic progressivism?