Rowan Williams
Public lecture in conjunction with the Centre for the Study of Human Rights
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6.30-8pm | Thursday 1 May 2008
Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE
Speaker
Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Chair
Conor Gearty, Professor of Human Rights Law, LSE
The idea of human rights is often traced back to the characteristically religious insight that every individual is unique in the eyes of God. This explanation of why human dignity is important held sway for centuries, but it has lost much of its grip on society in these uncertain, post-modern times. Many adherents of human rights today see no need to root their beliefs in any religious (or specifically Christian) set of beliefs. Indeed some would go so far as to see religion as distinctly hostile to human rights. Are they right to do so? What is the true relationship between religion and human rights?