You bring up an interesting point here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokugawa
I find it interesting that the Bible, which was supposedly written by G-d (and as a religious Jew, I tend to follow that beliefe) never mentions any rights whatsoever.
What the Bible mentions is responsibilities. The responsibilities of man to his fellow, the responsibilities of man to his community and the responsibilities of man toward his G-d. Never once in the Bible is there mention of anyone's RIGHTS.
This seems to be true of the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. Based on what I have read of the Koran (I'm something of an expert in the OT having studied it intensely for over 35 years, and I have read the NT several times in order to familiarize myself with it, but I am a complete layman about the Koran) there is no mention of "rights" in the Koran either.
Can anyone tell me of any text that any religion claims was written by a god or gods or under the inspiration of a god or gods that mentions "rights"?
I find it interesting that the Founding Fathers created a document that mentions "inalienable rights" that were "endowed by their creator". And that document was NOT the US Constitution. The document that talks about inalienable rights is the Declaration of Independence. Nowhere in the Constitution will you find the term "inalienable rights".
The Declaration, however, established the concept of inalienable rights for the people of the United States, and the fact that these rights exist is not up for debate. I do not question the existence of these inalienable rights. I question the SOURCE. Are they really endowed by G-d or are they granted by man as part of the MORALITY learned from G-d and His Laws? A good lesson, to be sure, but that does not mean that rights are a direct edict from G-d.
Again, if the source of these rights was from G-d, why did he never mention them in his own texts? Yet he DOES mention responsibilities.
One of the things that often occurs to me is that my own religion, Orthodox Judaism, never mentions the concept of rights. We speak in terms of responsibility. (Although after the events of last Thursday, I question how well some of my co-religionists take care of their responsibilities.)
And in the USA, one of the main problems I see in our society is that people seem to always be claiming rights, but very few are willing to take responsibility.
The health care issue is a perfect example: many Americans see health care (or insurance) as a "right" that needs to be guaranteed by the Government. But very few people are willing to take responsibility to provide health insurance for themselves. It's their employer's responsibility, or their government's responsibility, but it is their "right".
Abortion is another issue where this applies. Women have the "right" to an abortion, but they have no responsibility to refrain from having sex to avoid getting pregnant.
Criminals have "rights", but they have no responsibility to avoid breaking the law.
Terrorists have "rights", but no responsibility to refrain from killing innocent civillians.
I could go on, but I think we get the point.
We would do better in this country to take more responsibility and worry a bit less about rights. After all, if we are following G-d's will with regard to rights, shouldn't we also follow His will with regard to taking responsibility?
Yes, we are endowed with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But with those rights, we are encumbered with certain responsibilities... to ourselves, to our neighbors, to our community and to the nation as a whole.
If all we care for are rights, and we take no responsibility, then we are taking advantage of others and we are leeches on society.
So... we THINK that our rights come from G-d. But we KNOW that our responsibilities come from G-d.
Which do you think should come first?
Elliot
