Universal human rights and traditional religious values

• Published in: Society (New Brunswick) Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 36 - 41
• Main Author: Clayton, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Nature B.V 01.01.2004
• Subjects: Codes of Conduct; Cultural studies; Ethics; Global Local Relationship; Human Rights; International human rights; Localism; Religion; Religious Cultural Groups; Religious Doctrines; Social research; Sociology; Universalism; Value systems
• ISSN: 0147-2011; 1936-4725
• DOI: 10.1007/BF02712703

Some religious groups claim that their human rights codes have universal validity but only their own members are subject to the codes. To deal with this tension, religious communities have adopted five types of strategies, including the view that underlying principles of human rights are universal, but local rights language varies. International human rights advocates have not tapped into the rich resources of religion in their discourses because religious communities are deemed to be local rather than universal. However, secular rights discourse, itself a construction of a specific historical & cultural circumstance, is no more universal than religious discourse. Another way out of this dilemma -- challenging the universality of human rights norms -- leads into the relativist trap, an ultimately self-defeating position. Differences within the broad discourse on human rights should not be treated as conflicts between those with & without commitment to rights, but as differences in priorities or hierarchies of rights. M. Pflum