On Human Rights Day, December 10, 2008, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 60! This document is a milestone in summarizing our rights as humans in one document that is entirely secular. Unfortunately, as Ken over at Open Parachute points out, it is increasingly under attack, especially freedom of expression is getting curtailed by “religious defamation” claims. By undermining the secular nature of the document, religious wrong proponents try to put religion on a pedestal where it can be neither criticized nor questioned. Clearly they know that upon close scrutiny there’s not much left in religion, so they have to prevent us from looking under the hood. In the process, they make any criticism more difficult, effectively rendering free expression impossible.

In addition to the open attacks on the Declaration, the document itself is dated. As I have pointed out before, I have my doubts about declaring that marriage is a human right. Forming relationships in whatever form with whomever we want to should be a human right. Marriage, however, is just one way of doing that – and a very privileged form to boot. As Michael Warner points out, giving marriage this privileged status creates a hierarchy of relationships that without evidence value some forms more than others. If marriage is a “normal” human right, then – by definition – other forms of relating are not normal, are abnormal, and not a human right. This enshrines matrimanic thinking into one of the world’s most important documents.

So, while the 60th anniversary is certainly grounds for celebration, it will be a bittersweet celebration at best.

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