Greater and Lesser Gods
by JCheshire
Sometimes it confuses me when someone distinguishes themselves as ‘of faith’ or ‘without [a] faith’. I have been growing increasingly aware of how hope is crucial for every moment of life and that faith – its older sister – enables us to endure day in, day out.
Fine, ‘faith’ usually refers to something extraordinary such as a supernatural or metaphysical concept but I think it’s equally important to open our eyes to the other faith systems we ALL belong to. Perhaps David Cameron is not a god, but we still put a gargantuan amount of faith in our government; its local council; its legal system.
Recently I started to ask if there is a ‘new god’ for our times, taking its place to try and supplant a Divine Ruler. Is this pretender Human Rights? To understand my point, you would need to look at the way the law evolved here in the UK:
1. Natural law – divine laws are our laws, they are superior to man.
2. Positivism – humanity is not trustworthy enough to speak for God. Our laws are the works of man.
3. Realism – a case will depend on what the judge ate for breakfast. The individual decides YOUR law.
I think we are encouraged to view human rights as universalists: like natural lawyers, we say that a person’s freedom of expression or right to a private family life is innate in our humanity. I have been thinking that human rights are actually nothing more than printed words that people agree to enforce. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re essential tools for protecting the weak but let’s call a spade a spade and Human Rights a faith system.
We put our faith in many more things than God.
Should we?
