Religious Sources and Dimensions of Human Rights

Rights talk has become a dominant mode of political, legal, and moral discourse today, and human rights protections and violations have become increasingly important issues in international relations and diplomacy. Most nation-states now have detailed bills or recitations of rights in their constitutions, statutes, and cases. The United Nations, the European Union, and various religious, cultural, and ideological groups also have detailed catalogues of rights set out in treaties, declarations, conventions, and covenants. Most of the rights and liberties that are in vogue today have millennium-long roots in the Western legal tradition -- a tradition which has been shaped by biblical, classical, Christian, and Enlightenment teachings. Non-Western legal cultures have their own forms and forums of rights talk, too, which have been shaped by Islam, Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Indigenous Religions, and other faith traditions. These non-Western rights norms are becoming more important to global discussions of human rights today, and promise to bring ample reforms to human rights instruments and implementation in the years ahead. While this chapter focuses on the religious roots and routes of human rights development in the Western tradition, the last section argues that human rights need the resources of all these religious traditions to survive and flourish.