EKD Press Releases
"Human Rights Are a Matter of Christian Obligation"
Bishop Schindehütte on the Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights
December 8, 2008
On 10 December, Bishop Martin Schindehütte, EKD's officer in charge of foreign affairs and ecumenism, stressed the universal significance of the Declaration of Human Rights and the on-going challenge of contributing to the respect of human rights throughout the world. This year's Human Rights Day marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption by a vast majority of Member States of the United Nations General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet, all over the world, these basic rights are frequently and flagrantly violated, the Bishop for foreign affairs stated.
As an example, Schindehütte cited the oppression of which Christians are the victims in the Indian state of Orissa or in Iraq. The draft law in Iran instituting capital punishment for "apostasy" and thus placing non-Muslim religious minorities in acute danger is likewise unacceptable. Freedom of belief and conscience are fundamentally important to human rights, Bishop Schindehütte said. If religious freedom as a human right of individuals or of their communities is threatened, all personal and political freedoms are jeopardized.
However, human rights do not only refer to the individual's civil and political rights. The UN declaration explicitly includes social rights such as the right to employment, education and rest and leisure, Bishop Schindehütte added. Guaranteeing these rights and shaping them is an ever-present social and political responsibility.
According to Schindehütte, even though human rights came into existence through political processes, they are essentially Christian in nature. He said, "For us as Christians, our relationship with God is the ultimate limit against which our interests as citizens of state and society also come to a halt. Human dignity is a gift of God. For Christians, it stems from a biblical awareness of being the image and likeness of God. God, too, through the son of God, Jesus Christ, suffers torture and violent death. Nonetheless, God's love of humankind triumphs by virtue of the resurrection of this Son. The human dignity conferred by God, therefore, can be violated, perhaps, but it cannot be destroyed. The Church, by speaking out against violations of human dignity and advocating for the preservation of the rights which are rooted in that dignity, is following the path indicated to it by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. It is therefore the compelling obligation of all Christians, always and everywhere to raise their voices and to take concrete action when individuals or groups for whatever reason are deprived of their rights, persecuted or harmed."
Hanover, 8 December 2008
Press Office of the EKD
Christof Vetter