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Human Rights and Orthodoxy: An Overview and Assessment of the Current Debate

Publication |
2023

Abstract

In the Orthodox world, the debate on human rights has been one of the most interesting in recent years. There is an influential tendency among Orthodox priests, monks and laity to completely reject the idea of human rights as a mere Western invention without any cultural or spiritual basis among Eastern Christians.

The critical problems are to be found in the different understanding of human dignity and the resulting emphasis on freedom or morality. Our task and question, therefore, is to identify the key points in this debate and to see what possible solutions to the existing dilemmas are available.

In this article, we will attempt to map out the main players and arguments for the Czech reader, critically present and evaluate them.