Human Rights and Religions: An Overview on a Controversial Relationship

Abstract

If Human Rights (HR) and religions are controversial concepts on their own, the relationship between the two can be fraught with complexity. However, the interest in jointly exploring the realities that underlie the two categories together has led to a long academic tradition of research on the relationship between religions and HR. In this article, based on a review of the state-of-the-art and from a post-secular perspective, we will approach the issue raised from two key points that will be in continuous interaction throughout the text. On the one hand, I will examine the interaction between religions and the polygenesis of HR, a vexed issue that has aroused growing attention in the academic community and that has marked the debate on the polyvalence of fundamental rights. On the other hand, I will analyze the studies that currently attempt to explore the potential contribution of religions to the promotion of HR in the present, but also pointing out the contradictions and ambiguities that arise in this endeavor. These two keys will show us the limits of the relationship between HR and religions, but also the opportunities that the explorations of the common substrate between the two offer cooperation between secular and religious actors in the joint promotion of Human Rights.