Respect for human dignity a foundation for religious liberty

DALLAS—Respect for human dignity can provide a cross-cultural consensus to safeguard religious freedom, a keynote speaker told a Dallas-Fort Worth area conference.

“Where human dignity flourishes, religious freedom will flourish,” Brett Scharffs, director of the International Center for Law and Religious Studies, told the DFW Summit on Religious Freedom at Southern Methodist University.

‘Swiss Army knife’ of human rights dialogue

An appeal to “human dignity for everyone everywhere” is the “Swiss Army knife” of human rights discourse, Scharffs said. It is a multi-purpose tool that cuts across lines of religion and culture and provides a foundation for freedom of thought, conscience and religion, he explained.

He echoed a call for “religious climate change” based on human dignity issued by Jan Figel, European Union special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU.

Scharffs pointed to the role Figel played in negotiating the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian who was released last year after nine years imprisoned in Pakistan for false charges of blasphemy.

In conversations with Pakistani officials about Bibi, Figel focused on the need for their country to show respect for human dignity. The Muslim officials connected the principle of human dignity to teachings in the Quran, and that opened the door to negotiations that led to Bibi’s release, Scharffs said.

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as “a common standard of achievement for all people and all nations.” The first sentence of the declaration begins with a “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”

To mark the 70^th anniversary of that landmark document’s adoption, Scharffs was among 68 initial signatories from 35 countries who endorsed the Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere at a conference convened in Punta de Este, Uruguay, in 2018.

The Punta de Este Declaration asserts that human dignity is “a broad approach that nevertheless invites in-depth reflection within differing traditions and perspectives.”

“What can we learn from each other about how to create and cultivate cultures of dignity fit for our own political, legal, societal and religious contexts?” Scharffs asked.

‘The kind of Baptist I want to be’

Bob Roberts, pastor of NorthWood Church in Keller, participated in a panel discussion on local applications of human dignity and religious freedom.

As a Baptist, Roberts noted his religious tradition has a proud history as strong advocates for religious freedom, but a checkered record of demonstrating respect for the dignity of individuals from other religions.

Through his church’s global missions outreach, Roberts learned to work both with communists and Buddhists in Vietnam and with Muslims in Afghanistan as they cooperated to build clinics and schools.

“All things local and global are now connected,” he said, noting that the way Christians treat Muslims in the United States has a direct impact on how Christians are treated in Muslim-majority nations.

Roberts has promoted dialogue and relationship-building shared meals between Christians and Muslims in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as well as participating globally with Muslim leaders in a series of retreats to promote understanding.

“We learn to see one another as we work together,” he said. “That’s the kind of Baptist I want to be.”

Roberts emphasized the importance of pastors, imams and rabbis taking the lead in promoting understanding and standing for religious freedom—particularly when it is unpopular to do so.

“It is the responsibility of the majority religion to take the initiative to protect the rights of minority faiths,” he said.