ARTICLE ONE

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience
and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Questions for ARTICLE ONE Discussion:

When you think of your experience of Jesus—in scripture, the sacraments, in your prayer life, and in the tradition of the church:
—What suggests that we are all born free?
—What suggests that we are equal in dignity and rights?
—Does Jesus ever appeal to reason or conscience?

In your view, does Article One of the Declaration:
—Emphasize rights but not duties?
—Value the individual above the community?

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Sunday, March 16, 2008

Welcome to all participants

I'm Donn Mitchell, the editor of The Anglican Examiner. I will offer a few preliminary thoughts on the questions about Article One. Please add your own thoughts or pose additional questions.

Personally, I believe Christ asserted the dignity of human beings by accepting human shape and form and living among us. When he said, "As you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me," I hear him saying two things: First, that something of Christ is present in each and every human being. He doesn't limit it to the morally upright or the repentant. He seems to be saying that by virtue of their birth, by virtue of their humanity, all human beings have something of Christ in them. Second, by saying that he is present even in "the least of these," he seems to be asserting a kind of primal equality, an equality that precedes and outweighs any human-created or socially constructed differentiations as well as any inherited or God-given differentiations.

I believe Article One captures these two concepts by simply asserting that we are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The language also suggests that we are born with a duty to respect each other as brothers and sisters in the human family.

Posted by Donn Mitchell at 8:12 PM

2 comments:

Jane said...

I'm writing a very brief post for now simply to say how much I applaud this initiative - despite not being an Anglican! I will try to publicise it through some of my networks in Europe after Easter. I'll also try and encourage some of my colleagues here in Geneva who are specialists in human rights work to make contributions.
I also wondered whether you knew of the book by John Nurser For All Peoples and All Nations: Christian Churches and Human Rights. It charts much of the history of the human rights declaration and the Christian input into it.
Anyway all the very best with this initiative which is a great idea.
Jane

March 22, 2008 at 2:27 PM
Anonymous said...

I have been studying human behavior since 1953. I've written two books on the process that demonstrates all people have intrinsic worth/dignity. It is based on the observation of the universal response to rejection, regardless of culture.

When people accept that their worth is dependent on others and performance, rather than, a "given" they trigger the fight/flight" stress response which impacts the bodies survival capacity at the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels.

Therefore the experience of one's worth is a given. It is not selfj-estteem which is based on extrinsic, not intrinsic, worth. For the theologically inclined the worth is God's love for each of use. It is not up to us.

May 20, 2008 at 10:50 AM

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