RIGHTS IN THE CHURCH Adam J. Moida
1. What is the source of human rights? Within the history of mankind, the answer to this question has depended on the philosophicol, cultural and legal setting within which it is asked. ln the Seventeenth ond Eighteenth Centuries, the idea coalesced in European and American philosophy thot man had certain rights, inherent in his nature,
which were obsolute and inalienable and which the law was bound ta protect. To the extent the law did not do this, il hod to be supplanted. The cultural and legal systems of the Western democracies which had their origins in the rebellions attributable to this idee still, to a degree, recognize the idea thot the very nature of man secures certain rights ta him. The experience of mankind is not unitary, however, and contrary philosophies have from lime to lime asserted a different position. For exemple, one philosophy would identify power os the source of human rights. The idea thot a person's rights are those which he con impose on others had had currence particularly in fascist cultures and legal systems. Another philosophicol premise is thot rights are o "mutuel privilege" and thot individuels enjoy rights only to the extent thot the majority in society con agree on what those rights ore. This ideo of a societal consensus os the source of human rights is gaining acceptonce in many modern democracies, especiolly as regards those societies' treatment of their weaker elements ( e.g. the un born, the aged, the poor, the prison er and other minorities). Alternately, the philosophy thot the state is the source of humon rights and thot a person hos no rights except those ollowed him by the state hos always currence in totalitorian societies, of the aristocratie or proletarien stripe. The source of human rights, then, has been variously held to be the nature of the. individuel, the individuol's power, the consensus of society or the state. Religion, to the extent il is a cultural phenomenon, has often followed the pattern of its culture in the recognition of human rights. Medieval Christianity, at home in o monarchical world, spoke infrequently of rights and more often of the dulies thot a persan owed to his King and his Church. The law of the Church itself, which evolved in large part during this historical period, sometimes repeats this emphasis. Authentic Christianity,
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