In Search of a Culturally Sensitive Human Rights Ethics

Abstract

The paper analyses the potential for the recognition of human rights as a universal moral and legal regulator in the social and political sphere by Buddhism, Christianity (on the Orthodoxy example) and Islam. The analysis is focused on the dogmas and specific cultural norms of these religions which regulate the legal status of the individual. Among the Buddhism’s no­tions allowing the latter to join the global consensus on human rights, there are the category of compassion, the Five precepts and the doctrine of Buddha-nature. The last one seems to be the most promising. The understanding of the human freedom typical for the Orthodox tradition differs from the one implied by the conception of human rights. But supporters of human rights within the Orthodoxy appeal to the roots of ideas of universal equality and human dignity in the Christian moral ideal. The human rights’ protection, in their opinion, can be seen as a minimal manifestation of the Christian love. The Islam’s participation in the world consensus on human rights could be based on additional interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah that adapts some of their statements to the modern social life’s condi­tions. One of the crucial notions in this respect is maslakha (the general welfare principle) which fixes the basic goods of human life and secures their protection. The directions of the rapprochement of the three religious traditions with the conception human rights traced in the article can become the basis for a consensus that will make human rights genuinely uni­versal, but the real achievement of such a consensus depends on the readiness of religious leaders and ordinary believers to correct and develop their social and political ideals.