The question of rights is of issue I am sure every day here in present day America. Turn on the television to COPS and you will see someone complaining that their rights have been violated. Who bestows these rights is of logical question. Being a Christian I would have to say that these rights are bestowed by God. Those that question this do have a point in questioning why it is that MY God bestows these rights, and is my God the correct one. So if we choose to avoid this very controversial topic of God given rights, who then can we point to having the authority to grant us rights. Do we look at our parents that bring us into this world as the bestower of rights? They have granted us life so why should they not grant us our rights in life? The question then becomes what happens when they pass on. Also we have examples everyday of those who do not follow in the will of their parents. Also families separate all the time. Are we to be granted rights from both parents, if so which is the dominant one we are to follow if there lies a contradiction. This falls under the idea of two different deities granting rights. Which one is correct? So if we come to a point where we cannot claim that a God or parent grants us rights is it then the government in which we reside. This makes sense as my rights would be revoked if I committed a crime. The question though becomes that since 1776 my government has remained the same in form, but yet things I may have been able to do in the eighteen hundreds, are now against the law. And things I can do now were banned back then. So I see it that rights are not granted by government or parents or God’s they are granted by the society in which you live. They are granted by those who either by election, age or some other factor have been put in place above us to administer our rights for the times in which we live. To me there is no question if there are rights or not, the question lies in how those rights are bestowed.
I largely agree with you. I further note that rights back then did stem from our parents. In some cultures, if a slave and a free person married, the children were born free; in others they remained slaves. In many culture, the dominant partner (almost always the male) lays out the familial bill of rights. I don't really see this as two different deities granting rights; they may be separate but they are not equal. As to it being the society who grants rights, not God or a parent, I think you are on stronger ground. Rights can't be rights if they can be taken away, and the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are clearly ephemeral.
ReplyDeleteWell done, I appreciate that you are able to step away from your particular religious beliefs and look for a more universal foundation for rights.
ReplyDeleteI also think that rights seem to stem from society, and that our perception of what is a right and to whom is it granted evolves over time. What do you think about the idea of universal rights, for example, in America and the rest of the western world, we have the right to a trial by jury, but in many places they have only the right to trial by having a car battery attached to sensitive bits. It seems to me that due process ought to be a universal right, but how can we make that happen?
I agree with your last sentence as well, I know that there are rights and that there are universal rights, but I am unsure about their foundation. What is the first cause that made these rights universal?