ABSTRACT
The argument that religion provides the only compelling foundation for human rights is both challenging and thought provoking, and answering it is of fundamental importance to the furthering of the human rights agenda. For if we are able to establish a compelling non-religious foundation for the idea of human rights that can stand alongside the religious one, we will have made it easier for an ever-widening group to reach a consensus on the manner in which they ought to treat one another, even if they are unable to reach any other agreement. I argue that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides us with all we need to defend human rights; in particular, I contend that the process by which it was drafted and the deliberations surrounding the subsequent human rights instruments represent the best possible proof of the universal applicability of the rights that they put forward.
