The Right Way to Talk About Rights
by Daniel OliverIn July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo created the Commission on Unalienable Rights in the Department of State—and not a moment too soon. Continue Reading »
Briefly Noted
by VariousIt is no easy task to write the biography of an autobiography, but Carlos Eire has done it. His book describes the composition and legacy of St. Teresa of Avila’s Vida, which popularized the introspective prayer and contemplative Carmelite devotion that has inspired so many—including . . . . Continue Reading »
Canada’s State Religion
by David T. KoyzisThose maintaining standards of life and behavior at odds with the religion of human rights are increasingly treated as dissenters and pressured to conform. Continue Reading »
Renewing Human Rights
by Mary Ann Glendon and Seth D. KaplanWhen Eleanor Roosevelt and a small group of people gathered at the behest of the U.N. in early 1947 to draft the world’s first “international bill of rights,” they cannot have had very high hopes for their endeavor. The world was awash in colonial oppression, discrimination, poverty, and . . . . Continue Reading »
Dreams of Progress Meet
Ethnic Cleansing
by Dan Hitchens
Having once put such hopes in Burma, the world has lost interest. Continue Reading »
Being Alive is the First Requirement for Moral Value
by Wesley J. SmithArtificial intelligence machines have no greater moral claim to our respect or ethical consideration than a broken toaster. Continue Reading »
Restraining Populism
by Samuel MoynGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel wrote Donald Trump a public letter the day after his election. “Germany and America are connected by values of democracy, freedom and respect for the law and the dignity of man, independent of origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political . . . . Continue Reading »
Rivers Declared to Be “Persons”
by Wesley J. SmithJust what does it mean for a river to have “rights”? Continue Reading »
Letters
by VariousHuman WrongsR. R. Reno, agreeing with Yuval Levin, believes we must rid ourselves of our nostalgia (“Public Square,” May). It is banal, of course, to suggest that we cannot live in the past. But is it nostalgic to yearn for a time when workers enjoyed a measure of security, families were intact, . . . . Continue Reading »
Reclaim Human Rights
by Mary Ann GlendonLongtime readers of First Things may recall that the April 1998 issue featured a nuanced statement “On Human Rights” by the Ramsey Colloquium, a diverse group of Christian and Jewish scholars led by Richard John Neuhaus. The group’s aim was to provide the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . . . . Continue Reading »
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