ABSTRACT
On the face of it, human rights can only arise from a transcendent source. This is because what we mean by a human right is an inherent and inalienable entitlement (Montgomery 1986). Inherence implies that the right arises from a human being’s intrinsic nature (and not from extrinsic factors, such as birth, majority opinion, or the particular constitution adopted by a state). It is because of inherence that these rights are also inalienable: they cannot be abridged or suspended by changes in external circumstances. Yet all of this makes sense only if human beings have some special, intrinsic value worthy of protection. If the universe is a cosmic accident, it is hard to see why anything has value, and harder still to see why human beings would have rights not possessed by animals, plants and even inorganic substances. So the idea that we have a special intrinsic value seems credible only if human beings were created for some unique and important purpose by a transcendent power. Thus, to cite the clearest example, according to the Judeo-Christian scriptures, human beings were specially made in the image of God to be stewards of the rest of creation (Genesis 1:26-8). On this account, we soon learn that murder of any human being is wrong because that being is made in the image of God (Genesis 9:6).
