The Right to Life Questioned. Introductory Remarks

Abstract

The right to life is understood as being a fundamental right. It is the purpose and the inner nature of all human rights to protect the individual against physical and mental treatment that violates the personal integrity. This concern converges with the anthropology of religions such Christianity and Islam, who grant the human dignity a high status. As an image of God, every person has a dignity which must not be subordinated to any other purpose and which must be protected. Therefore, these religions are sensitive to violations of human dignity. That does not take away from the fact that the practice of a religion or members of a religion can miss this goal. How the relationship between religious beliefs and the protection of life is empirically designed is the theme of this book. The right to life is becoming virulent in many areas of human rights. In order to make the studies in this book comparable, this volume presents a selection of topics in which the right to live is particularly under discussion. It is not primarily the question of what a good life should be, which must be discussed in the context of human rights, but rather the question of whether the right to life could be restricted or withheld.