The Spirit of the Laws, The Laws of the Spirit: Religion and Human Rights in a New Global Era

Abstract

This chapter is addressed to the "spirit" of the modern global law of human rights-to its religious sources and dimensions, especially in the Western tradition. In particular, it seeks to discern the past and potential contributions of Western Christianity to the cultivation and the reformation of the modern law of human rights. Part I argues that the modern human rights revolution has brought not only new freedom, but also new belligerence to many long tramelled religious communities, launching something of a new war for souls throughout large parts of the world. Part II argues that religion is, nonetheless, a natural and necessary ally in the global struggle for human rights. Part III argues that Christianity, among other faiths, has unique and vital resources that have been, and can be, brought to bear on the global human rights movement. Accordingly, after outlining the general rubrics of a "hermeneutic of human rights," I use it to analyze the past and potential rights contribution of the Church to the spirit of the laws and the laws of the spirit.

Keywords: Spirit of the Law, Western Legal Tradition, Human Rights, Christianity, Religion, International Law, International Human Rights Law, Montesquieu