Dear mmistrz,

Human rights are an inextricable part of our lives. In fact, they are so much a part of every day living that we often take for granted the protection they offer us. Consider, for example, how often you drink clean water; eat food; go to school or university; say or write what you think; practice a religion (or not); vote for a political party; demand privacy, and expect to be treated fairly by others. All of these everyday activities depend on the adequate protection of your human rights as well as those of your neighbour.

Where the protection is inadequate or missing altogether your human rights suffer.

Without the recognition of these rights and their adequate protection human society would simply not exist. The 'use' of human rights is that through them we become more truly human and our societies worth living in. That, in short, is their importance.

A respect for the basic human rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and subsequent covenants is to be found at the heart of Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism,
Hinduism and Islam.

"In the Bible its expression is 'Love thy neighbour as yourself'; in the Koran it is'no one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself; in the Talmud 'regard your neighbour's gain as your own gain and your neighbour's loss as your own loss', and in Buddhism it finds expression in terms such as 'hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.'
Kate Gilmore, National Director, Amnesty International,
on our common humanity.

Our greatest human achievement would be if we could educate people in
developing an understanding of what it means to treat other people with dignity and respect for their rights. It's about using this understanding to guide the way we see and act in society.

With understanding, comes respect. And this respect helps build strong communities, bsed on equality and tolerance in which everyone has an opportunity to contribute.

I hope that answers your question.

Cheers.

Boazy,

"Yes.. we 'disagree' and thats the point where we need to start grappling with the evidence..and see where it takes us.. much like a jury must do."

And yet your every piece of "evidence" has been a misinterpretation, and when this is pointed out, and you simply never refer to that example again. Sorry, but there is no debate. Just someone desperately trying to justify his prejudices by finding YouTube footage of religious nutters. Well, you certainly wouldn't be the first fan of Fox News to so do.

I think you should forget about politics for a while and start delving within yourself. What are the psychological explanations for your paranoia about Islam? Forget about them, where does it come from, within you?

mmistiz,

What Foxy said.

Human rights are not a religion. They do not seek to compete with religions.

The abuse or neglect of children is absolutely unacceptable. As a community, as a country, we should do all we can to prevent it. Human rights help set standards, and can serve as markers to help us measure how well we have done in nuturing children.

However, abuse exists. Many different churches, Christian and otherwise, have been responsible for abusing and neglecting children. (Please see the other thread about the "Forgotten Australians".) So have many adults, some of whom I'm sure paid lip service to a belief in human rights. The list is not perfect, and we should never give up on trying to improve it. A list of corresponding responsibilities might be a good idea, for example. But it is a starting point for improving all those individual candle flames that together make up humanity.

Have you read the Declaration on the Rights of Children? It's here, if you'd like to: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/25.htm

Vanilla....

you really need a good shake..

You say my 'evidence' is a misinterpretation? and that this is often pointed out ? good GRIEF! I must object to that...

I honestly fail to see how me pointing out the ABUSE of human rights of blind people, and underlining that this abuse comes from Muslims claiming the same human rights as Foxy is waxing eloquent about....
is 'bias'?

This is not a little backwoods problem it is world wide.. UK, America, Australia.. everywhere.. Yet..I presume you would not see an attempt to 'Islamize' the places concerned by imposing Sharia law which is against the law of the land ? Please don't insult me by saying I'm biased just because I stick up for the blind and the boozers with the law of the land on my side.

Drivers would have their airport licenses suspended 30 days for the first offense and revoked for two years after the second offense. The cabbies would be subject to the new penalties by May 11, when airport taxi licenses are scheduled for annual renewal.

<<Last year, the Metropolitan Airport Commission received a fatwa from the Muslim American Society of Minnesota that forbade taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol so as to avoid “cooperating in sin according to Islam.”

“Islam also considers the saliva of dogs to be unclean,” Hassan Mohamud, imam at Al-Taqwa Mosque of St. Paul, tells The Associated Press. Mohamud, who is also director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, plans to petition airport officials to reconsider their proposal.>>

A FATWA ?.. ERR.. MUSLIM RELIGIOUS RULING trying to overturn the law of the land on discrimination? I'm just taking a wild guess here..but I'd say you don't see 'Incremental Islamization' by stealth here do you ? well.. afterall..we are discussing 'blind'people arn't we :)

Boazy: "we are discussing 'blind'people arn't we"

Yup. Some people are just so blinded by their bigotry that they simply don't get it when it's pointed out to them.

Dear Vanilla, CJ and others,

It has just occurred to me - why do we react to anything this man has to say?

He reminds me of a barking dog - let him bark - and when he's tired
he'll stop.

We can't take him seriously. He's either a hack or as CJ would put it - a troll (don't feed him) or he gets his jollies by being deliberately provocative - and then sitting back and laughing at all of our reactions.

Let him stew in his own bigotry and bias - you can't reason with him.
It's an exercise in futility ... and by reacting we stoop down to his level.

EXACTLY!!