[TLDR (too long didn’t read): If you are reading this, chances are you care about HR. This Reader is about the lines that separate religions from human rights. For a quick overview, just read the bolded text]. Traducir/traduire los/les Readers; usar/utiliser deepl.com
1. Religions put ethics as the core of individual responsibility; they call on reason of various kinds as fundamental to reaching a ‘higher calling’. Humans have a responsibility to strive for something better –religions claim. (The idea that religion and science are antithetical is a modern idea, not the idea of ancient wisdom).
2. This year is the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which is the closest we have ever come as humanity to expressing a common shared ideal. I believe that the United Nations remains indispensable for our survival, even as its fragility is evident in the face of great power politics, private greed, and state impunity. The world is very difficult now, and the UN has a very difficult time functioning in a difficult world. But it remains, in my view, our best hope for the universal human family. (Jeffrey Sachs) Do the major religions agree?
3. We believe ourselves to be necessary, inevitable, ordained since time immemorial. All religions, almost all philosophies, a part of the sciences, testify to the tireless, heroic effort of humanity to desperately deny its own contingency. Religions and philosophies have always been intimately associated with the moral and political ideas of their authors –so are human rights (HR). They ‘sell’ us real ideological edifices presented as a-priori when, in reality, they are a-posteriori constructions destined to justify a preconceived ethical-political theory.* (Jacques Monod)
*: Man must finally know that he is alone in the indifferent immensity of the universe from which he has emerged by chance. Like his destiny, his duty is not written anywhere. He must choose between the Kingdom and the Darkness. (J. Monod).
4. The study of human origins is only some 100 years old. Before then, it was more like stamp collecting. Creationists cited Darwin’s work as evidence that he and his heresies were nothing but a low trick in getting God out of school books. (Paul Theroux, Dark Star Safari) Furthermore, the line that separates the mythological from the religious is difficult to find. (Juan Francisco Maura)
Take two examples
Does Jesus Christ condone the free market? (John Bowring)
5. The great powers (mostly predominantly Christian) became rich and powerful thanks to the free market. Ergo, is the free market compatible with the teachings of Jesus Christ? (Louis Casado)
6. From a religious point of view, it is difficult to justify the development of capitalism, i.e., the mode of production whose driving element is selfishness. This is diametrically opposed to the divine will, and yet how many capitalists do you know who are men and women who claim to be religious? Pascal invented his famous bet: Bet on the existence of God. If God exists… you hit the jackpot. If God does not exist… you lose nothing. (Blaise Pascal, The Thoughts. Fragment 397). In reality Pascal did not prove the existence of God –but rather man’s interest in believing that He exists.
7. [A short aside here: Monarchs ruled by divine right –meaning they were God’s viceroys…? …Or that behind their idea of people’s rights lay the idea that our Rights were God-given? That would mean: our Rights were given by God, but also restricted by God?**
***: The concept of divine rights was once applied to monarchs. But, in modern times, the term was and is understood to imply that the modern-day autocrat has been granted carte blanche to do whatever they choose. (Colin Tudge) Mind you: The worst system of government is a theocratic one, in which political authority is exercised directly or indirectly by a religious group that believes its power comes from God. (Marcelo Trivelli)].
Is the idea of Nature sacred?
8. To destroy or otherwise despoil what is sacred takes us beyond mere crime and into the realms of sin. Those of religious persuasion (who, worldwide, are by far the majority) like to feel that there is some greater intelligence at work in the universe who sets the moral standards and who cares about what we do to nature and, in some way, sits in judgment. Therefore, even if you do not really believe in God, the idea of God is still useful for HR. Some Christian theologians argue that the idea of God helps us to keep sight of the bedrock principles of morality including our attitudes towards our habitat.
9. Various Eastern religions share the concept of Dharma. Each interprets Dharma in its own way as embraced by at least some Buddhists. For them it means universal harmony, including with mother earth. (Competitiveness in life is the antithesis of harmony). Islam emphasizes humility, including towards nature. (The word Islam means submission –to God).
10. It seems sensible to see competition and cooperation as complementary opposites. Contrary to common perception, the prevailing folklore and the ideology of neoliberalism, cooperativeness has prevailed. Morality thus has cosmological significance, which we may or may not choose to express in religious terms. Whatever helps is OK. (Colin Tudge)
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
Your comments are welcome at schuftan@gmail.com
All Readers are available at www.claudioschuftan.com
Postscript/Marginalia
—It is time to ask God, without fear, if He really believes that people are made of iron to endure so many pains and mortifications. (Ursula Iguaran).
—As long as God remains a man, who (for Christians) gave a son, Jesus, but never a daughter, who always sent men to transmit his messages, women will always be less. Until there is a woman Pope in the Vatican, gender equality will be difficult. (Alberto Portugheis).