2010 Articles

The Russian Orthodox Church on Human Rights

Trostyanskiy, Sergey

The Russian Church in its official teaching on human dignity, freedom, and rights has recently proposed that human rights “cannot be superior to the values of the spiritual world. Thus, “It is inadmissible and dangerous to interpret human rights as the ultimate and universal foundation of societal life to which religious views and practice should be subjected. Human rights should not subjugate any religious values and norms, but be subject to them. Thus, human rights are denied a status of the ultimate authority and are given a subordinate status in the social contract of the Russian Church.
What is designated as human rights? Do human rights have a reasonable degree of actuality?