Religion and limitations to the protection of human life

Abstract

Despite the contention that modern legal systems should function as if God did not exist, religious beliefs and practices continue to play an important role in how people develop, interpret, and choose to respond to legal systems. This article seeks to investigate the relation between religion and international human rights law, focusing on the protection of life in three religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Political theory is drawn upon to argue that the motivation to adhere to norms within international human rights law is not only contained in these norms themselves, but that each of the religions surveyed has the potential to provide additional motivations to adhere to norms related to the right to life and its deprivation. Based on this exploration of selected authoritative legal or quasi-legal codices and principles, the article finds that these religions affirm the importance of protecting life and all three religions find that arbitrary deprivation of life is unacceptable, but that the protection of life is otherwise not the supreme value in any of three religions surveyed.