Religion and Human Rights: Competing Claims?: Competing Claims? (Columbia University Seminar Series)

Much has been written about the issue of religious freedom and church-state relations. The contributors to this book, however, take up another side of the question: what has been the impact of religion on human rights. Representatives from various religious traditions address a broad range of topics, from environmental rights to the basic validation of human rights, to the rights of women in India and Iran and within Orthodox Judaism, to the global imposition of criminal justice, to pressures for democratization within the Catholic Church in Latin America. The six major essays, along with their accompanying "replies" answer questions and raise issues in a provocative and compelling debate. Introduction : Ambiguities Of The Divine / Peter Juviler -- Human Rights And Public Theology : The Basic Validation Of Human Rights / Max L. Stackhouse -- Reply: Human Rights : Religious Or Enlightened? / Louis Henkin -- Human Environmental Rights And/or Biotic Rights / Larry Rasmussen -- Reply: Rights Of Creation To Rites Of Revolution / Patricia A. Daly -- Religion And Societal Change : The Struggle For Human Rights In Latin America / Margaret E. Crahan -- Reply: Religion And Societal Change : The Struggle For Human Rights In Latin America / James F. Joyce -- Gandhi's Philosophy Of Satyagraha : Cautionary Notes For The International Penal Lobby / Carrie Gustafson -- Reply: Secular Eschatologies And Class Interests Of The Internationalized New Class / Kenneth Anderson -- Speaking/seeking A Common Language : Women, The Hindu Right, And Human Rights In India / Arati Rao -- Reply: Reconceptualizing The Relationships Between Religion, Women, Culture, And Human Rights / Julie Stone Peters -- Feminism, Jewish Orthodoxy, And Human Rights : Strange Bedfellows? / Blu Greenberg -- Reply: Jewish Orthodoxy, Modernity, And Women's Rights / Alan R. Segal -- Islamic Law And Human Rights : Conundrums And Equivocations / Ann Elizabeth Mayer. Carrie Gustafson, Peter Juviler, Editors. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Addresses how religion impacts upon human rights, - particularly, how it affects women's human rights and development. Different-faith representatives look at: theological versus secular validation of human rights; Islamic feminism; liberationist directions in the Catholic Church; and more.