Hiebert shares on faith, human rights

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This article was published 12/03/2016 (3404 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An academic from Steinbach mused the world’s religions can do a better job reconciling with the human rights cause but added the discord between the two may never be resolved.

Dennis Hiebert, the department head of arts and sciences at Providence University College, phrased his talk Tuesday night in Steinbach as the “awkward waltz” between human rights and religion.

“Sometimes gracefully, sometimes awkwardly,” said Hiebert of the dance partners.

For human rights and religion to harmonize perfectly is impossible when implementing one’s rights requires violating another’s human rights, he said.

An attentive crowd at Eastman Education Centre grappled with the sometimes conflicting worldviews during Hiebert’s speech, part of the Otterburne college’s public lecture series.

Hiebert explained the ideals of Western society, influenced by Christian teachings, helped inspire documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in establishing a generally agreed upon rulebook for human rights, but the institutional church has also been at the root cause of many human rights violations from wars to bombing.

Religion, Hiebert said, is simultaneously a source of reconciliation and healing but can also breed prejudice and discrimination.

He noted human rights are not clear-cut either in its interpretation. Human rights are often painted glowingly as universal, natural, self-evident and consensual when in reality this isn’t the case—what one culture in the West might respect may not be observed elsewhere.

Striving for human rights at all costs, when its definition is not universally respected, can cause problems.

Hiebert asked whether fighting for human rights should come at the expense of one’s well-being. “Is Iraq really better off that they have human rights when their society has been destroyed?”

When religion and human rights intersect, they are united as a normative meaning system, a way of understanding the world. Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. have advanced both missions.

But they come in conflict time and time again, Hiebert explained. Should wearing a niqab give way to the government interest a woman shows their face when giving the oath? Can municipal meetings open with a prayer? Can you refuse customer service to a same-sex couple you disagree with?

“Religion can make legitimate what human rights would otherwise call oppression,” said Hiebert.

He added these days religious adherents are more likely to call for human right protection now that they don’t perceive themselves as the overwhelming majority. Hiebert cautioned those advocating for protection of their religious rights to do so carefully and respectfully.

“Don’t play it like some kind of trump card,” he said, before conceding he may need a new phrase now that ‘trump’ can be equated to the bombastic U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Hiebert said in an interview afterwards he is intrigued by the growing acceptance of empathy that has fostered developments in human rights and helped different religions come to the table.

A better path forward can be found, he thought, but it doesn’t mean the two forces must unite.

“I think there is a chance that religions might find more common human ground in the future, even if their notions of the transcendent or the supernatural remain divergent,” said Hiebert, “but it will be very, very difficult.”

Hiebert will also present his talk tonight at McNally Robinson Bookstore in Winnipeg at 1120 Grant Avenue at 7 p.m.

Providence’s public lecture series makes one last appearance in Steinbach on Tuesday, Mar. 15, with Val Hiebert speaking on “Jesus and Women: The Untold Stories” at 7 p.m. The event is free to attend.