operates within the medium of belief or faith of some kind.

都是仰赖信仰与信念之类而运作
Take our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence,

且看我们的建国文献《独立宣言》
the Constitution, all men are created equal,

《宪法》人人生而平等
that we are endowed with inalienable rights that

我们生而具有不可剥夺的权利
all legitimate government grows out of consent and the like.

所有合法政府皆由认同这些权利的方式产生
These beliefs form something like a kind of national creed,

这些信念构成了类似国家信条的东西
you might say, American, national creed,

你或许会说此乃美国国家纲领
what it means to be an American and not someone else.

对美国人意义非常对其他人不得而知
Yet, how many people could give a kind of reasoned account of

但是有多少人能给出一个详尽的解释
what makes these beliefs true, or what grounds these beliefs?

什么让信念成真理信念的根基是什么
Most of us, most of the time, hold these beliefs as a matter of

我们大多数人大多会将这些信念
faith, as a matter of belief, because we have learned about them

归作信仰因为我们自小就被如此教导