Religion and human rights

Religion and human rights have oftentimes been portrayed as enemies. ¹ Increasingly, however, a number of scholars have challenged this way of thinking and moved towards more conciliatory approaches (see, e.g., Sunder 2003; Witte and Green 2012). The relationship between religion and human rights does not have to be inherently contradictory. Yet freedom of religion, a human right itself, may sometimes raise tensions and apparent conflicts with other human rights. What makes these kinds of tensions and conflicts particularly thorny is that there are human rights involved on both sides of the competing claims. ²