ABSTRACT
Monotheistic theology predisposes Christians to ‘moral realism’, i.e., the belief in a universal moral reality that precedes and frames human thinking and acting. This reality consists basically in the human good or flourishing rather than divine commands or natural law. Such belief in a single, universal moral reality is compatible with the acknowledgement of moral plurality, albeit non-radical. It is consistent to affirm universal moral principles in the form of the various elements of human flourishing (i.e., ‘goods’), while at the same time acknowledging that interpretations of them vary according to the wisdom and virtue of the interpreter and that there is a variety of institutions, laws, and norms that might serve them. While moral realism has not been fashionable since at least 1945, the post-war rise of universal human rights-talk marks a limit to the sway of moral subjectivism in the West. At the same time, however, this rise has provoked a reaction from some Asians and Africans, who relativize human rights as ‘Western’ and accuse rights-advocates of Western neo-imperialism. Such an accusation is largely ill-founded. The phenomenon of rights is universal, even if there are different ways in which a good can be protected by a legal right.
