Alex, this is a brilliant question because you’ve touched on one of the cornerstones of society today. We live in a culture where we expect and demand certain things. The good part of this can be seen in the UN’s universal declaration of human rights. With the horror of global conflict, this document was hammered out to try and show how there are certain basic rights [1] that every human on the planet, regardless of race, sex, age, religion or politics, should be able to expect. However, I think you were pointing more to a growing rights mentality where people (angrily) view how a certain picture of the good life is not open to them. This could be as simple as not being able to park outside their house right through to not having the opportunities in life that others have. All of this can grow and grow into a pent-up anger that explodes and expresses itself as “this is my right… I want it!”
So what do we do with this?
The first thing to say is that however effective the UN’s universal declaration of human rights is, it’s got nothing on the opening chapter of the Bible! You see when you ask the human rights act “why does every human on planet earth have these rights?”, it’s got no answer. There is no ultimate foundation for these supposed universal rights. However, in Genesis 1 we read this:
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them….
(Genesis 1:26-28a)
Made in the image of God (Imago Dei) means that every human on planet earth draws their value, dignity and worth from being created in God’s image. The Christian answer to why every human on planet earth has the right to be treated with dignity and value is found right here. They are image-bearers of God. Broken and sin-stained for sure, but still image bearers of God. For me, this opening chapter of Genesis gives us our marching orders, as a church, into community action. Any form of dehumanising that is taking place (poverty, addiction, relational strife, hunger) is an affront to the fact that these people, who we live next door to and certainly share the same borough with, are people made in God’s image! Human dignity comes from this reality!
However, to get back to the nub of Alex’s question, do followers of Christians have rights? My answer would be yes and no! If by rights we mean promises that have been made by God, then yes and in bucket loads! Just read Ephesians 1:1-14! However, at the same time, we’ve been called to lay down our supposed rights and become servants (2 Cor 6:4) and slaves of God (1 Peter 2:16). Even Mary, the Mother of Jesus, described herself in this language: ‘Behold, the bondslave [slave] of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.’ (Luke 1:38). We’ve also been challenged by Jesus that ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me‘ (Luke 9:23). We’ve also been instructed to pray ‘Your kingdom come‘ (Matt 6:10) which is to say, let the rule of the true and everlasting Monarch be established in my life (regardless of my desires or rights). Friends, none of this is rights-based language. In fact, we would have to admit that the overwhelming picture of the New Testament is that we joyfully surrender our rights so that the rule of the true King can be established in our lives!
Spinning this issue just one more time, when Jesus said to pray, ‘Our Father‘ (Matt 6:9) and told parables of prodigal sons (and daughters) and lovingly waiting fathers, Jesus was deliberately moving Christianity away from a rights-based model to one rooted in the self-giving love of God himself (1 John 4:10). I think this is a much safer and better place to be than one of legal rights. Here we have an attentive father who loves and goes on loving… eternally!
So, when all is said and done, I think we can say that to follow Jesus, we have dignity and worth (amen!), because we are made in the image of God, but we’ve also been called to give up any sense of rights and to become servants and slaves of God (gosh, that sounds challenging), yet to do that in the context of being loved children of God (wow, that better than anything!) When all of this is blended together, we have a glorious, safe and challenging place to live!
[Note 1] (1) Right to life (2) Right not to be tortured or treated in an inhuman or degrading way (3) Right to be free from slavery and forced labour (4) Right to liberty and security (5) Right to a fair trial (6) Right not to be punished for something which wasn’t against the law when you did it (7) Right to respect for your private and family life, home and correspondence (8) Right to freedom of thought, belief and religion (9) Right to freedom of expression (10) Right to freedom of assembly and association (11) Right to marry and start a family (12) Right not to be discriminated against in relation to any of the rights and freedoms listed here (13) Right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions (14) Right to education (15) Right to free elections (16) Abolition of the death penalty