ABSTRACT
This case study presents and analyses three different types of an over-reliance on tradition within Christianity that cause a problematic position regarding human rights. First, there is the argument of “natural order” that already for a long time has been brought forward in order to inhibit a full embrace of human rights for everyone. This argument is part of the selective reading of the human rights idea by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) as well. However, the ROC gives, second, its own moral traditions, which partly stand in the way of the human rights idea, also a God-given authority. Third, there is an over-reliance on traditional values also in some tendencies of Pentecostalism that concentrate on worship, salvation, and personal healing without questioning the societal status quo.
