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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Genocide does not just happen. It requires preparation. It requires planning. It requires steps to deny the human dignity of every individual before it translates into the denial of rights–turned–persecution and annihilation of the whole community. Soldiers and armies do not just go to slaughter other people—and not with some of the most horrific atrocities we have seen in recent years. Before this is humanly and inhumanly possible, one has to deny the human dignity of every individual, present them as vermin, animals, less than human, to enable the atrocities. We have seen this in the case of the Holocaust. We have seen this in the case of the Rwandan genocide. We have seen this in the case of the Bosnian genocide. And we have seen this across all contemporary cases of genocide, including the Yazidi genocide launched by ISIS on 3 August 2014, a genocide that is ongoing even now, with more than 2600 Yazidi women and children still missing.
Revolutionary in Theology: In Memoriam Jürgen Moltmann
By Zoran Grozdanov
…The cross, as the means for transformation of the present, points to Jesus—that is, toward all those who are persecuted and downtrodden for religious, political, and social reasons. God’s future belongs to them, and the transformation of the present must be performed with putting in the center the persecuted and the victims of the society—either political or religious. In that sense, too, Moltmann was revolutionary: “Theologians served to explain the worlds, they must now transform it,” meaning that the Christian must not rest until the Church—society—is built from the view of the victims, not the perpetrators. Not Christian society. Not Christian nation. Not Christian civilization. And not Christian values. And that is why we should read Moltmann, even more than when his books first appeared.
The tragic events of 7 October and the subsequent war in Gaza have reignited longstanding tension in Israel regarding the draft of Ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students. This issue has been impacted as well by recent rulings of the Israeli Supreme Court, which have brought the matter back into public debate. This post aims to simplify this extremely complex issue and guide the reader through developments leading to the recent bill currently being considered by the Knesset. Given the brevity of this post, its focus is on recent developments and specifically on the 2024 bill rather than a comprehensive historical review.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently released its 2024 Annual Report, which contains recommendations regarding U.S. government efforts to enhance religious freedom globally. Nadine Maenza comments on the report and the global religious freedom trends it reflects.
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