During all the hoopla about human rights at Durban II, one can’t help but wonder where human rights come from. Who decides what rights people should have? Do the majority decide as in a democracy? If they do, their numbers give them the strength to decide for the minority. Do the elite decide rights as happened in communist dictatorships, monarchies and other central governments? If we believe some rights are due to all humans, where do we get that idea? Is it just an arbitrary human decision that changes with times and cultures?
In the United States our founders decided certain rights were “inalienable”, meaning not needing explanation and not to be taken away. Do people today realize our founders believed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were bestowed upon us humans by God? Today when so many people disbelieve God, question God’s existence, or otherwise live as though He doesn’t exist, where do they get the authority to declare what is a human right, who gets rights and under what circumstances? Its just the opinion of the majority isn’t it, the tyranny of the powerful. Without God, thats the best we get.
Without God, the right to life is determined by the powerful against the weak. If the weak are a nuisance, they can be dispensed with. Look at abortion, infanticide of disabled babies, euthanasia and the like. Without God liberty is nonexistent. Without God, there is no pursuit of happiness for all, just pursuit of self-interest by the powerful. Without God, human rights is as arbitrary and changeable as the winds of cultural fad.
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