Religious Freedom and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Description

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is widely considered to be the most influential statement on religious freedom in human history. Religious Freedom and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides a groundbreaking account of its origins and developments, examining the background, key players, and outcomes of Article 18, and setting it within the broader discourse around international religious freedom in the 1940s. Taking issue with standard accounts that see the text of the Universal Declaration as humanity's joint response to the atrocities of World War II, it shows instead how central features of Article 18 were intimately connected to the political projects and visions of particular actors involved in the start-up of the UN Human Rights program. This will be essential reading for anyone grappling with the historical and contemporary meaning of human rights and religious freedom. Cover Half-title Series information Title page Copyright information Epigraph Table of contents Preface and Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction Situating the Study Rights as Tools of Politics A Note on Sources Chapters 1 Freedom of Thought and Conscience An Absolute and Sacred Right Personalism and the Turn from Worship to Conscience Charles Malik and the Freedom of the Human Person Concluding Reflections: Embodied Vulnerability? 2 The Right to Change Religion or Belief The Ecumenical Movement and Human Rights O. Frederick Nolde and the Right to Hear the Gospel Malik and the Right (and Duty) to Change Religion or Belief Concluding Reflections: Human Rights versus Islamic Severity? 3 In Community with Others Beyond the Rights of Individuals Eleanor Roosevelt and the American Melting Pot René Cassin and the Life of the Nation Concluding Reflections: From Minority Rights to Human Rights? Conclusion Bibliography Archives Printed Sources Index