According to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.”
Somebody had better tell the bioethicists, transhumanists, deep ecologists, philosophical materialists—and the others who would base rights on criteria other than being a member of the human species—that the word “everyone” means each and every one of us. In other words, the advocated policies of those who would distinguish between human beings who are “persons” and those who are non persons based on capacities would violate one of history’s most important human rights documents. And no, you animal liberationists, the word “everybody” does not apply to animals. It is an agreement about the rights to which all and only human beings are due—simply and merely because they are human, e.g., human exceptionalism.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
