These teachings form the fount of the Christian understanding of human rights. As Christians, loving our God and loving our neighbor together advance the imperatives of human rights. The human rights instruments that are now available are a means, which, when implemented and protected, will allow persons, societies, and the international community, to live fully and responsibly in freedom and human dignity. By recognizing and respecting the human rights of peoples, Christians come to acknowledge the God-given worth and dignity of all peoples. United Methodists support human rights because they are a concrete means of assuring right relationships within communities, between peoples and among nations.
Human dignity is the well-spring of all human rights.
It is in fact the sum total of all human rights. It encompasses all gifts of talent and grace, life and beauty, wisdom and discernment that are all endowed by God on every person. Dignity is inherent, indivisible, and inalienable in every person including the communities they found. This is why denying human rights to any person and to his or her communities is a desecration of God s commandments. To deny and violate human rights is to tarnish this dignity and diminish God s image in persons.