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UN expert: World religions should defer to the authority of UN experts
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<div><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Special rapporteur Ahmad
Shaheed concluded that</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>laws based in traditional morality, often
religious in nature,</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> should be repealed </b></span>i<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>f they conflict with <span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)">the
opinions of human rights scholars and U.N. experts</span>.</b></span></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/un-expert-nations-should-replace-traditional-christianity-with-pro-abortion-lgbt-laws" target="_blank">https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/un-expert-nations-should-replace-traditional-christianity-with-pro-abortion-lgbt-laws</a></div>
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<span>Fri Mar 6, 2020 - 9:45 am EST</span></div><br></div>
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<img src="https://assets.lifesitenews.com/images/made/images/remote/https_www.lifesitenews.com/images/local/ahmed_shaheed_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg" alt="Featured Image" style="margin-right:0px" width="188" height="116">
Ahmad Shaheed, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. <span>University of Essex / YouTube</span>
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<span>By Rebecca Oas, Ph.D.</span></div></div>
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<p>WASHINGTON, D.C., March 6, 2020 (<a href="https://c-fam.org/" target="_blank">C-Fam</a>)
— <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>According to the UN’s special expert on freedom of religion, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the
fringe views of UN human rights bodies must take precedence over </span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the
mainstream beliefs of many leading world religions, </span>when it comes to law
and policy.</b></span></p>
<p>In his <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1058411" target="_blank">newly-launched</a> annual
report<span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">, Ahmad Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion
or Belief, wrote about the intersection of religion and gender
equality. He concluded that laws based in traditional morality, often
religious in nature, should be repealed if they conflict with the
opinions of human rights scholars and UN experts.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">“States have an obligation to guarantee to everyone, including women,
girls and LGBT+ people, an equal right to freedom of religion or
belief,” he said</span>, “including by creating an enabling environment where
pluralist and progressive self-understandings can manifest.”</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">In order to enable</span> these “self-understandings,” laws <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">criminalizing</span> </span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">
abortion or various sexual behaviors </span>would <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">need to be overruled.</span></b></span></p>
<p>Shaheed noted that laws regarding abortion and homosexual behavior
often arise from the application of religious teachings regarding the
sanctity of life, the family, and sexual morality. While stopping short
of directly calling on major world religions, such as Christianity or
Islam, to change their doctrines, he attempted to differentiate between
“patriarchal” and “gender equal” interpretations of religious teachings.
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> </b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The report cites the work of scholars who have worked to promote
“progressive” reinterpretations of faith traditions, adding that the
source of gender-based violence or discrimination is not necessarily
religions, but, rather, certain interpretations of them, “which are not
protected per se.”</span></span></p>
<p>The notion of “LGBT+ rights,” a concept that has only recently
entered the parlance of scholars, and which has no international
consensus, much less a formally accepted definition, is treated by the
report as a given. In contrast, religious traditions, some dating back
thousands of years, are treated as subordinate. The special rapporteur
cites “many feminists and human rights scholars” in arguing that “rules
regulating the status of men and women, including in the appointment of
clergy,” are not only religious, but political, and therefore “are a
concern for the State and international human rights law.”</p></div></div></div><div><div><form method="post" action="http:///" target="_blank"><div>
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<p>Last November, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Shaheed <a href="https://twitter.com/ahmedshaheed/status/1198880566088785921" target="_blank">Tweeted</a> a
quote from a workshop focusing on gender equality and freedom of
religion: <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">“When access to safe abortion is denied, the right to life,
the right to health, the right to equal human dignity is denied.”</span></b></span></p>
<p>On Monday, the Human Rights Council held an interactive dialogue with
the Special Rapporteur, where a joint statement was presented on behalf
of several pro-life and pro-family organizations, including C-Fam,
raising objections to the report’s disregard for the rights of unborn
children and calls to restrict the rights of conscientious objection to
abortion by health care professionals.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The position of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or
Belief is part of the subset of the UN Human Rights Council known as
Special Procedures. </span>As such, he serves in an individual, unpaid,
capacity, and his reports are advisory and nonbinding. Nevertheless,
they feed into the UN’s library of human rights documents that
frequently cite each other in defending interpretations of human rights
that are far from gaining widespread support among UN Member States.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">P<b>revious special rapporteurs, including those whose mandates include
torture, violence against women, and the right to health, have used
their posts to advance pro-abortion positions.</b></span></p>
<p><i>Published with permission from <a href="https://c-fam.org/" target="_blank">C-Fam</a>.</i></p>
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