What is the relationship between human rights and religion?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Depends what Religion you are talking about. Lets take Islam for instance: Islam is all about human rights and also includes animals rights.

When we speak of human rights in Islam we really mean that these rights have been granted by God; they have not been granted by any king or by any legislative assembly. The rights granted by the kings or the legislative assemblies, can also be withdrawn in the same manner in which they are conferred. The same is the case with the rights accepted and recognized by the dictators. They can confer them when they please and withdraw them when they wish; and they can openly violate them when they like. But since in Islam human rights have been conferred by God, no legislative assembly in the world, or any government on earth has the right or authority to make any amendment or change in the rights conferred by God. No one has the right to abrogate them or withdraw them. Nor are they the basic human rights which are conferred on paper for the sake of show and exhibition and denied in actual life when the show is over. Nor are they like philosophical concepts which have no sanctions behind them.

The first and the foremost basic right is the right to live and respect human life. The Holy Quran lays down: Whosoever kills a human being without (any reason like) man slaughter, or corruption on earth, it is as though he had killed

all mankind ... (5:32)

As far as the question of taking life in retaliation for murder or the question of punishment for spreading corruption on this earth is concerned, it can be decided only by a proper and competent court of law. If there is any war with any nation or country, it can be decided only by a properly established government. In any case, no human being has any right by himself to take human life in retaliation or for causing mischief on this earth. Therefore it is incumbent on every human being that under no circumstances should he be guilty of taking a human life. If anyone has murdered a human being, it is as if he has slain the entire human race. These instructions have been repeated in the Holy Quran in another place saying: Do not kill a soul which Allah has made sacred except through the due process of law ... (6:151)

Answer 2

Human rights and religion can intersect in that some religious beliefs may influence attitudes towards human rights issues. While some religious teachings may emphasize the importance of respecting human rights and dignity, there can also be instances where religious beliefs clash with certain human rights principles, such as freedom of expression or LGBTQ rights. It is important to navigate this relationship carefully to ensure that human rights are upheld for all individuals regardless of religious beliefs.

Answer 3

When we realise that human rights are such basic rights and freedoms as the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, freedom of religion and equality before the law, we realise that human rights do not come from religion and have never been granted by God or kings. Human rights are fundamental principles that we are entitled to by right. Religion and rulers can take these away but can not grant them.

Few religions have a happy history of honouring human rights. The priest, rabbi or mullah is always content to have our ordinary rights curtailed in the interests of what he believes and teaches. Christians, Jews and Muslims have all had turns at denying freedom of religion to the others, and the extent of persecution has generally only been limited by lack of power to proceed with persecution, not by altruism. The denial of freedom of religion is inevitably followed by denial of the freedom of thought and expression, and often by loss of liberty or life. The basic human right of equality before the law inevitably ceases to exist in a theocracy or even where the state is subservient to the religious majority. Abrahamic religions might have have the most grievous record of denying human rights, but other religions, to a greater or lesser extent, have also been implicated.

Human rights represent a philosophical concept, not a religious one. Philosophy examines the questions of human dignity and the pursuit of happiness and meaning, and provides explanations. Religion is concerned with the happiness of gods, not that of humans.