Human rights in a theological perspective

Abstract

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights made no reference to God purposely to enable Governments, embracing different political ideologies and representing peoples with a different religious background, to reach a common understanding of the dignity and rights of man.(i) Reaffirmation of "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal dignity of men and women and of nations large and small"(2) seemed to have required no metaphysical or religious anchorage. It could be expressed more or less as a self-evident truth for which no further motivation was needed than that respect for human rights was an essential condition "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind."