Nexus of Queens


Published by the Queens Federation of Churches

Archbishop of Canterbury Speaks about Churches' Role in Human Rights

March 2, 2012

In his public lecture on 28 February at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "a historical landmark," which he said sometimes may be "misread," especially in a "cultural settings where individualist assumptions rule."

Archbishop Williams of the Church of England spoke on human rights, faith and human dignity (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ca407a8fba7b094f035d) while he was visiting the WCC offices in Geneva, Switzerland.

He pointed out that detaching human rights language from religious language and institutions would be to "lose something historically crucial."

He mentioned the important role churches played in South Africa and the East Germany, where universal human rights were affirmed and defended through churches' active involvement.

"The struggle against apartheid in South Africa would have been very different without what the church contributed; and in East Germany, the church was almost the only place where free discussion was possible and different futures could be imagined," said the archbishop.

He suggested ways of bridging the gap between the rights discourse and religious convictions.

"What makes the gap between religion and the discourse of rights worrying is that the language of the Universal Declaration is unthinkable without the kind of moral universalism that religious ethics safeguards," the archbishop said.

In his lecture the archbishop brought the audience's attention to laws used against sexual, ethnic and religious minorities, as well. While examining the role of religious institutions, he mentioned the consistent support by the Anglican Communion for measures protecting sexual minorities from intimidation.

Role of religion in human rights

The archbishop called the role of religions in regard to human rights a significant one which incorporates communal and cultural aspects involving expressions of dissent over the denial of human rights.

"It is essential that, in an age that is often simultaneously sentimental, utilitarian and impatient, we do not allow the language of rights to wander too far from its roots in an acknowledgement of the sacred," said the archbishop.

He emphasized that human rights begin from human dignity, which requires a habit of acceptance and wider belonging.

"A ‘culture of dignity' is, for example, one in which a person's freedom to work or access to employment is a significant moral touchstone," he said referring to the right to work as described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 23).

The WCC secretariat, which hosted the archbishop's public lecture at the Ecumenical Centre, held several discussions with him on Tuesday, reflecting on the challenges faced by churches engaged in the protection of the rights of people.

"The archbishop gave us a solid platform for further discussions about the intrinsic connection between human rights and human dignity, a dignity based on faith and belonging to a community," said the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

"This was a great inspiration to our work for human rights in the many contexts where neither the human dignity nor the rights are well observed and protected," added Tveit.