Human Dignity Initiative
Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with an invitation to a global conversation about preserving and protecting human dignity for everyone everywhere.
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As this essay is being written, it has been more than a month since the February 28 outbreak of hostilities between Israel and the U.S. (on one hand) and Iran (on the other hand). Public criticism of the war has been widespread. Political opponents (and even some normally supportive voices) have complained about the evident lack of planning, unclear objectives, and seeming disregard for the consequences of launching this “war of choice.” The shifting justifications for launching the war (including incoherent gestures toward the urgency of regime change and terminating Iran’s looming nuclear capability) have proven broadly unconvincing. The April 1 White House address of President Trump, broadcast in prime TV time, added little clarity. The ordinary measures of the cost of any war (usually counted in “blood and treasure,” that is, in lives lost and military expenditures) are compounded by an array of regional geopolitical disturbances and economic repercussions stemming from disruptions in the global flow of petroleum.
Religious cultural heritage preservation can be viewed as a human rights issue. But taking a purely human rights approach to religious cultural heritage preservation can be somewhat awkward since human rights are primarily recognized and protected for individuals. Preservation can also be viewed as a property right, but scratch the surface, and you realize it goes much deeper, in part because the property at issue resonates so deeply within communities. And so a rights-based approach may not be the end-all be-all when justifying preservation of religious sites.
In considering religious cultural heritage preservation, I suggest we need to widen our gaze to include two additional perspectives: one that takes into account human dignity, which is the foundational principle of human rights, and a second that incorporates what I have been calling the “virtues of religious freedom,” which focuses on habits of character that will be inculcated and encouraged if we have cultures that value religious freedom.
Last year a draft law was presented in the Israeli parliament regulating a variety of issues regarding religion in public spaces. In particular, the law prohibits public authorities from interfering with the putting on of, or the helping of others put on, tefillim (phylacteries) in public spaces. The draft law also prohibits public authorities from impeding the act of praying in a public space or public building. However, in a synagogue or educational institution, authorities may require that any prayer be conducted according to local Jewish custom. The draft law also establishes the duty to install a mezuzah (scroll case) in public buildings.
One can study this draft law as part of a series of legislative initiatives launched by the parliamentary coalition composed of religious and right-oriented parties currently ruling in Israel; in that light, the draft law could be seen as the result of what has been defined as an alliance between religious-infused markers of identity and the current populist assault on constitutional democracy in Israel….
In 2018, Hungarian Prime-Minister Viktor Orbán labeled the country’s political regime an “illiberal Christian democracy,” emphasizing his government’s interest in appropriating Christianity for the illiberal democratic context and Hungary’s clashes with more liberal members of the EU and with the Union itself. Professor Renáta Uitz (Royal Holloway, University of London; CEU Democracy Institute) discusses the origin and phenomenon of illiberal democracies in Eastern Europe and beyond and explains why and how these regimes utilize religion and religious groups for political ends. Uitz focuses on different sources of Hungarian and Polish political Christian theology and the role of “traditional values” incorporated into several Eastern European constitutions. She also elaborates on how illiberal regimes tame and silence democratically oriented religious communities and clergy by making oppositional activities too costly for them.
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