Religion and Human Rights
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Voting is part of the process in a democracy, you know for the people by the people, do you have a replacement?
Okay, you win. Now go get your dream government setup that way. I'm all for improvement. Until then we have our tools with which to work.
Elitism was Hitler's understanding of perfection concerning the Arian race. His "final solution" wasn't pretty.
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Certainly there is a use in polling the masses in order to understand their needs, but mere popularity should not be the determining factor of law. That is why meritocracy is superior to democracy; merit, talent, intellectual elitism... these are the things which rulers must demonstrate, and only those with such traits must be allowed to exercise authority.
Which brings me back to my initial statement: the exercise of authority ought to be a privilege, and not a right. You have to earn it.
Which brings me back to my initial statement: the exercise of authority ought to be a privilege, and not a right. You have to earn it.
It is the voting bringing peace and is the key to a better civilized humanity.
We as humans must agree and voting is the key.
Certainly I am.
Keep up the good work. I like questioning skeptics as long as they are intelligent about it.
Neither have rights hanged anybody. (understand?)
Please try to understand what I am saying. I am finding this rather frustrating. Your posts seem intelligent, but then you seem to almost willfully misunderstand.
You are claiming rights exist because people act like they do after a crime is committed.
I am saying, OK, then God exists because people act like God exists in other situations.
And, again: I am not saying we should not have laws.
Okay, God exists in the minds and hearts of people. I can't take that away from anyone. Faith operates using belief, I can't accept belief as infallible the way salvation is supposedly obtained. Salvation obtained through hearsay yet infallible is the reasoning and selling point of a swindler. The intent of the swindler is to gain control over the mind of the converts, establishing a freeloader's heaven. God modeled his methods using a flim flam man's tactics.
To refer to the beating and torture of Jesus as an expression of love characterizes a person afflicted with a psychosis. That type of expression of love is brutal and cruel. One can believe it, however, one practicing that kind of love should be rejected.
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Bells
Staff member
Firstly, I am an atheist.
Secondly, I thought by now it would have been clear to you.
You have human rights to the extent that others grant you those rights. The people in Rwanda had human rights prior to, during and after the genocide. The issue, however, was that the majority of the Western community decided to not recognise those rights and the result? Over 1 million dead in the space of 3 months.
For some bizarre reason, you think arresting and charging 20 or so people with the deaths of over 1 million people is satisfactory.. a positive sign. The answer to that is no. It is a total failure.
UN Justice system didn’t prosecute enough of the evil scum, understood.
Shall we have a moment of prayer for the million dead? The noticeable difference between religion and UN human rights.
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Bells
Staff member
No? Really?
What part of "I am an atheist" did you not quite understand?
UN human rights fails. It has failed in the past and it continues to fail. Repeatedly.
Do you know why it fails? Because member countries, the democracies that you are glorifying in constantly repeating how 'we get to vote', have ensured that it is a complete and utter failure.
I agree, Bells. But.... let's clear up one nagging little detail ....just who are these "others" who grant those rights? Where do they come from? How did they get the power to grant rights? How do they enforce those rights if someone violates the rights of others?
Didn't do 'em much good, though, did it? Here again is that silly ideal that some people hold ...that to just say something makes it true and real. Just saying that someone has human rights don't mean shit unless there's some power of enforcement.
So if "Western" communities recognized the rights, the Rwandans would not have been killed? What do you mean by "recognized"? If Western nations had given pretty speeches "recognizing" the rights of Rwandans, then everything would have been just hunky-dory?
I don't get it, Bells. On one hand in you post, you seem to grasp the reality that rights must be defended by force. Yet on the other hand, you say/imply that if "western" communities would have "recognized" the rights, then no Rwandans would have been killed. You're confused or, at the very least, you're confusing.
Just curious, Bells, but what would you have had the "western" communities to have done in Rwanda? Surely you aren't suggesting that, say, the US Army invade and stopped it all with the force of arms, are you? If not, what should "we" have done?
I don't know, but I just don't see how "human rights" can be anything but flowery words on pieces of paper ....without someone enforcing those rules with the force of arms.
Baron Max
What would you have those western democracies do, Bells? How can they or anyone keep people from violating the UN hunman rights rules?
And, no, Bells, the UN is not a failure ...it's a place where many of the rich, idealistic people of all nations can get together, drink fine wine, eat luscious meals, and give flowery, idealistic speeches. See? The UN is good for something!
Baron Max
Yes, you’re complaining the U.N. didn’t do a good enough job. You’re denying the comments you made. What should have the U.N. done?
The U.N. didn’t cause the genocide in Rwanda and certainly didn‘t ignore it. Without the democracies you belittle there wouldn’t be any human rights and there would be more people committing genocide like Idi Amin the butcher of Uganda did.
The U.N. is not a failure. You fail to recognize the humanitarian efforts of the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1. Deploying more than 35 peace-keeping missions. There are presently 16 active peace-keeping forces in operation.
2. Credited with negotiating 172 peaceful settlements that have ended regional conflicts
3. The UN has enabled people in over 45 countries to participate in free and fair elections
4. Development - The system's annual disbursements, including loans and grants, amount to more than $10 billion.
5. UNICEF spends more than $800 million a year, primarily on immunization, health care, nutrition and basic education in 138 countries.
6. UN Human Rights Commission has focused world attention on cases of torture, disappearance, and arbitrary detention and has generated international pressure.
7. UN Conference eon Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, resulted in treaties on bio-diversity and climate change.
8. Has helped minimize the threat of a nuclear war by inspecting nuclear reactors in 90.
9. Over 300 international treaties, on topics as varied as human rights conventions to agreements on the use of outer space and seabed.
10. The International Court of Justice has helped settle international disputes involving territorial issues, diplomatic relations, hostage-taking, and economic rights.
11. The UN was a major factor in bringing about the downfall of the apartheid system.
12. More than 30 million refugees fleeing war, famine or persecution have received aid from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
13. Aiding Palestinian Refugees with free schooling, essential health care, relief assistance and key social services virtually without interruption. There are 2.9 million refugees in the Middle East served by UNRWA.
14. Alleviating Chronic Hunger and Rural Poverty in Developing Countries, providing credit that has benefited over 230 million people in nearly 100 developing countries.
15. The Africa Project Development Facility has helped entrepreneurs in 25 countries to find financing for new enterprises. The Facility has completed 130 projects which represent investments of $233 million and the creation of 13,000 new jobs, saving some $131 million in foreign exchange annually.
16. Promoting Women's Rights *have supported programs and projects to improve the quality of life for women in over 100 countries, including credit and training, marketing opportunities, etc.
17. Providing Safe Drinking Water * Available to 1.3 billion people in rural areas during the last decade.
18. Eradicating Smallpox * through vaccinations and monitoring. Helped wipe out polio from the Western Hemisphere, with global eradication expected soon.
19. Pressing for Universal Immunization of polio, tetanus, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tuberculosis * has a 80% immunization rate, saving the lives of more than 3 million children each year.
20. Reducing child mortality rates, halved since 1960, increasing the average life expectancy from 37 to 67 years.
21. Fighting parasitic diseases, such as saving the lives of 7 million children from going blind from the river blindness and rescued many others from guinea worm and other tropical diseases.
22. Promoting investment in developing countries *promoting entrepreneurship and self-reliance, industrial cooperation and technology transfer and cost-effective, ecologically-sensitive industry.
23. Reducing the effects of natural disasters *early warning system, which utilizes thousands of surface monitors as well as satellites, has provided information for the dispersal of oil spills and has predicted long-term droughts.
24. Providing food to victims of emergencies * Over two million tons of food each year. 30 million people facing acute food shortages in 36 countries benefited from this assistance last year.
25. Clearing land mines - The United Nations is leading an international effort to clear land minds from Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, El Salvador, Mozambique, Rwanda and Somalia.
26. Protecting the ozone layer & global warming*highlighting the damage caused to the earth's ozone layer. As a result there has been a global effort to reduce chemical emissions of substances that have caused the depletion of the ozone.
27. Preventing over-fishing
28. Limiting deforestation and promoting sustainable forestry development *in 90 countries.
29. Cleaning up pollution *encouraged adversaries such as Syria and Israel, and Turkey and Greece to work together to clean up beaches. As a result, more than 50% of the previously polluted beaches are now usable.
30. Protecting consumers' health *have established standards for over 200 food commodities and safety limits for more than 3,000 food contaminants.
31. Reducing fertility rates * Family planning programs. Women in developing countries are having fewer children * from six births per woman in the 1960s to 3.5 today. In the 1960s, only 10% of the world's families were using effective methods of family planning. The number now stands at 55 percent.
32. Fighting drug abuse *Reduce demand for illicit drugs, suppress drug trafficking, and has helped farmers to reduce their economic reliance on growing narcotic crops by shifting farm production toward other dependable sources of income.
33. Improving global trade relations * The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has worked to obtain special trade preferences for developing countries to export their products to developed countries with fair prices.
34. Promoting economic reform * Together with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations has helped many countries improve their economic management, offered training for government finance officials, and provided financial assistance to countries experiencing temporary balance of payment difficulties.
35. Promoting worker rights *worked to guarantee freedom of the right to association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, setting worker safety standards, the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples, promote employment and equal remuneration and has sought to eliminate discrimination and child labor.
36. Introducing improved agricultural techniques and reducing costs *Resulted in improved crop yields, Asian rice farmers have saved $12 million on pesticides and governments over $150 a year in pesticide subsidies.
37. Promoting stability and order in the world's oceans *global agreement for the protection, preservation and peaceful development of the oceans.
38. Improving air and sea travel *Setting safety standards for sea and air travel, making air travel the safest mode of transportation.
39. Protecting intellectual property *Protection for new inventions and maintains a register of nearly 3 million national trademarks. artists, composers and authors worldwide.
40. Promoting the free flow of information *free of censorship and culturally unbiased, aid to develop and strengthen communication systems, established news agencies and supported an independent press.
41. Improving global communications * Regulated international mail delivery, coordinated use of the radio spectrum, promoted cooperation in assigning positions for stationary satellites, and established international standards for communications, thereby ensuring the unfettered flow of information around the globe.
42. Empowering the voiceless *recognize the needs and contributions of groups usually excluded from decision-making such as the aging, children, youth, homeless, indigenous an disabled people.
43. Establishing "children as a zone of peace" * From El Salvador to Lebanon, Sudan to former Yugoslavia, provide vaccines and other assistance desperately needed by children caught in armed conflict.
44. Generating worldwide commitment in support of the needs of children *more than 150 governments have committed to reaching over 20 specific measurable goals to radically improve children's lives by the year 2000.
45. Improving education in developing countries *60% of adults in developing countries can now read and write, and 80 percent of children in these countries attend school.
46. Improving literacy for women *Raise the female literacy rate in developing countries from 36 percent in 1970 to 56 percent in 1990.
47. Safeguarding and preserving historic cultural and architectural sites *protected through the efforts of UNESCO, and international conventions have been adopted to preserve cultural property.
48. Facilitating academic and cultural exchanges encouraged scholarly and scientific cooperation, networking of institutions and promotion of cultural expressions, including those of minorities and indigenous people.
The goals of the U.N. include peace and security, economic and social development, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and international law. The point is there is nothing in the world to replace the U.N. or anything doing any better in promoting peace.