1. WHO GETS TO DECIDE MY FAITH? HUMAN RIGHTS, RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND CHILD CIRCUMCISION Jude Chua PhD FRHistS FCOT FCollT 1

2. What Are Human Rights?  What do we mean?  Do Human Rights Exist? 2

3. Human Rights: Protection or Promotion of Liberties  Negative Liberties  “Free from….”  Positive Liberties  “Free to…” 3

4. Human Rights: Liberties + for what?  Negative Liberties + Preferences/Wishes/Feelings/Wants/Desires  Positive Liberties + Ethical Account of the Good/Right/Just/Choiceworthy/Desirable 4

5. Child Circumcision: Cologne Ban 5

6. Child Circumcision debate (circa 13/7/2012)  Cologne Courts, Germany  Circumcision – removal of skin at the tip of the male sexual organ, often performed as a religious ritual  A question of liberties, and of human rights  Test both accounts of Human Rights 6

7. Neg Liberties: Human Rights as the Right to Choose One’s Preferences  Values choosing according to one’s preferences (regardless of what is chosen)  Problems:  Pits preferences against preferences, rather than develop a moral claim  Liberal premises have theological basis, and are not persuasive 7

8. Positive Liberties: Human Rights as the Right to Achieve a Good  Not about valuing one’s preferential choices, but about being enabled to enjoy goods  Enjoying the good of religion: knowing truth about God and life’s ultimate meaning, etc  (Human) Right to religious liberty? – yes, I think 8

9. Positive Liberties: Human Rights as the Right to Achieve a Good  Against child circumcision – hmm….  Ability to decide one’s faith requires relevant capacities  Foreskin seems irrelevant as a capacity for such decisions  Unlike female genital mutilation, which is harmful 9

10. What’s the “problem” for the future?  Taking human rights seriously  Some “human rights” talk true, others maybe untrue?  Human Rights as a muddled discourse, our problem for the future. 10