Tuesday 24 June 2014

Human Rights

Much of contemporary debate is framed in terms of Human Rights.
But what if someone says there is no such thing as Universal Human Rights? This might be because they reject 'western values', or perhaps because they believe that nothing is 'Universal'.
We are stumbling into this again and again in the UK. Debates about schooling and values and the place of women in society come immediately to mind.
But "Human Rights" don't help in other areas either. In the Euthanasia debate someone might assert their 'right' to assisted suicide. But others assert the 'right' of the weak to protection from undue pressure. The language of Human Rights doesn't really help solve the dilemma.
This problem is that the idea of Human Rights is at the end of the day mere opinion. And if someone disagrees (as Adolph Hitler would have) then "Human Rights" has no answer.
We here reap the fruit of excluding God and Christ from our public life. Only if our values are rooted in someone or something beyond this world, in something or someone eternal, can there be an objective reason for values. When Christians urge one another to do good to all, this is based on the belief that indeed, 'Love Conquers Everything'. And this is based in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The House We Have Built, is built with the bricks of Human Rights. There is much, a very great deal, that Christians will want to support.
But we will also want to point out that the House has no foundations. And then we can get on with some underpinning.

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