Notes on Human Rights and Responsibilities

 Rights and Responsibilities

Human rights are what all of us inherently have as humans. These include the right to life, workers' rights, freedom of belief, speech and expression, and the right to privacy. I believe we share these rights because we are created equal by God. If we were simply evolved primates, then we wouldn't necessarily have any rights, except the idea that 'might is right'/survival of the fittest. As the American constitution states, we're all 'created equal, and endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'.

Whilst I don't want to negate the importance of human rights, from the womb to the tomb, I want to counterbalance a discussion of rights with a recognition of our responsibilities as humans as well. The danger is that an overemphasis on rights makes us selfish- 'I know my rights' (and I'm going to exploit them to get myself the best deal). To counteract this with a consideration of our responsibilities as people towards one another I think would be helpful.

Consider these two emphases: 'I have a right to be loved', and 'I have a responsibility to love'. The former is all about me, me, me having a sense of entitlement. The latter is more about what I can proactively do to make the world a better place, rather than to passively hope to be loved. I believe that an emphasis upon responsibilities rather than rights is Biblical, and therefore, in my opinion, divine. To actively love God, and to love others, is the summary of God's law. 

Human rights might be protected by human laws, but for them to be respected and upheld, people need to recognise their responsibilities to uphold them. An unborn child might have a right to life, but it has no power to uphold that right for itself. Therefore, those of us who have power over that unborn life have a responsibility to protect it. Similarly, an elderly person with dementia might not be able to protect their right to life. But we who have power over that elderly person have a responsibility to guarantee their right to life, and not to euthanise them.

Jesus says, 'blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth'. My definition of meekness isn't to be some weak pushover. Instead, meekness is not to insist upon our own rights. We have rights, and they should be upheld, but we shouldn't necessarily insist upon them. For example, I might have a right to eat meat. If I eat with a vegan however, I am meekly not going to insist upon that right to eat meat. Meek people have the strength to not be selfish. Instead, they focus on their responsibilities to consider others before they selfishly think of themselves.

Age of responsibility

This is a legal consideration, which apparently in Scotland is 12 years old. Once a child reaches 12 years old in Scotland, they bear more responsibility for their actions. Parents still have a responsibility for their children until they're 16 years old in Scotland. Biblically, we all bear responsibility for the wrong things we do, however old we are. You don't need to teach a child to do wrong, they do it naturally. In the Psalms, David says he was sinful from the time his mother conceived him, and we can take it that he was a typical unborn child, not especially evil. We're not sinners because we do bad things; we do bad things because we are sinners.

Obviously, if a child is too young to understand that they need forgiving for the wrong things they can do, they're not going to be judged the same as an adult. However, we all bear responsibility for our actions, and there will be no room for excuses on the day of judgment. As the old saying goes, 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'. Someone might never have been told that something they do is wrong. But if their consciences, their sense of right and wrong, testify against them, they should listen to that 'voice of reason' in their head. 

Of course, our consciences aren't infallible, and we can sear our consciences by refusing to listen to them. So, we need to check our actions against the word of God, the Bible. Are we being truly responsible? God will be the judge of that. Thankfully, although God is judge, He is also love, and full of forgiveness. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the Saviour of all those who put their trust in Him, by sacrificing His life, taking the punishment we deserve upon the cross.

Thankfully, that wasn't the end of the story, as He defeated death and rose again victorious over all that is against us. As a Christian, someone who trusts in Christ, it is my responsibility to tell people about Him.