German 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 »
Just what does it mean for a river to have “rights”? Continue Reading »
Human 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 »
Longtime 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 »
When I was in Thailand doing research on human trafficking in the red-light district of Bangkok, a common “show” was simulated beatings of prostitutes, while men eagerly looked on. Prostitution, along with pornography, desensitizes men to violence against women, while feeding a sense of . . . . Continue Reading »
The Council’s official statements join a list of human rights declarations by religious bodies, all of which conceive of dignity and rights in ways that differ from the standard Western versions. Continue Reading »
The Christian roots of Europe: The phrase puts me off. It points to something true, yes, and contemporary Europe remains profoundly indebted to its Christian past. Even the transnational ambition of the European Union reflects the desire for a secularized Christendom. Brussels builds on the memory . . . . Continue Reading »
Veteran human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell finds himself on the receiving end of the world he unwittingly helped to create. Continue Reading »
Complacency is cultural subversion’s best friend. You know what I mean: When a radical proposal is voiced, people chuckle and roll their eyes, believing that it can’t happen here, saying, “What will they think of next?” Thus, when the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued Sea . . . . Continue Reading »
Christian Human Rights by samuel moyn university of pennsylvania, 264 pages, $24.95 Samuel Moyn, a professor of law and history at Harvard University, makes a provocative claim: Human rights, the foundational principle of global, secular progressivism, originated as the project of Christian . . . . Continue Reading »
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