I owe the title of this post to a book edited by Nazila Ghanea, Alan Stephens and Raphael Walden. The book has its genesis from a seminar of the same name, held on February 28, 2005, by the Clemens Nathan Research Institute, the University of London Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. The very fact that we are being posed with such a question needs immediate attention. It shows on the fact of it, that we are not being able to pursue God and Human Rights as one and the same. We are on a ride to keep religion and human rights at bay.

I am of the opinion that God and human rights cannot exist without each other; they are complimentary. God has created Man in his own image; it means that, He has reposed in him all the strengths, Rights, and not to forget, Duties, which Man ought to follow during his voyage of life.

God not only believes in human rights, but also in something much more than that. Every religion guides the seekers of Truth to abide by the Divine duties with which they have been vested. Hence, religion is not only greater than human rights, but also encompasses the human rights. Religion is the universal set, of which the Human Rights are only a sub set. Both religion and human rights have the common goal of common good at hand. Both of them are normatively the same.

The perfect example to show how religion at times not only influences, but also architects laws is the fact that, whereas in India, a number of states have banned cow slaughter, in the USA, prolix laws enunciating the detailed procedure of cow slaughter have come into being.

The only difference between religion and human rights is that religion is not accepted in the Courts of Law. But isn't it a fact that, Law is nothing but a product of customs and traditions, which in turn have their roots in religion? Hence, it can very well be said that, even though religion is not acceptable in the Courts of Law de jure, they are indeed accepted de facto (philosophical de facto).

To mark a fitting conclusion to this post, I quote Osho:

Towing along this line, let us blaze the untrodden path! There is no happening of us, if we stick to the doctrinaire beliefs of the yore. Let us make our God - the one and only - believe in Human Rights!

Amen.