Human rights and universal human dignity are values large swaths of human society profess to hold... but why? What grounds our belief in human rights? Can a secular naturalism do it? How? Is religious belief required? This playlist explores the history of the development of the belief in human rights and the current philosophical debate around the source of one of our most popular modern doctrines.

Why human rights? Click here to join the discussion!

Watch the entire Playlist on our YouTube Channel • What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? • Gilbert Meilaender articulates the puzzle underneath its composition. • Watch two contrasting accounts of the historical development of human rights. • John Mutter and Vinoth Ramachandra explore the foundation of human rights. • Haldane insists on a grounds for human rights; Hitchens suspects they don't exist. • Robert George explores how an atheist could support human rights. • Nicholas Wolterstorff talks about why we need theism for human rights. • Vinoth Ramachandra explores Christian convictions about God and humanity.

Past Veritas Forums

Who are we? Click here to join the discussion!	The Veritas Forum at Mayo Clinic, 2010 What Does it Mean to Be Human? Ravi Zacharias, renowned speaker, writer, and apologist, addresses The Veritas Forum at Mayo Clinic on the subject of humanity. What does it mean to be human? Have we lost ourselves? And how does our answer to this question affect the way in which we live our lives?
Why Human Dignity? Click here to join the discussion!	The Veritas Forum at Mayo Clinic, 2010 Our Twofold Dignity Where can we find a common source of dignity? Gilbert Meiaender, professor of theology at Valparaiso University, addresses his vision for supporting human dignity in an address to The Veritas Forum at Mayo Clinic, 2010, arguing that we must distinguish between two kinds of human dignity in order really to understand what's going on.
A Moral Climate? Click here to join the discussion!	The Veritas Forum at Columbia, 2009 The Moral Climate John Mutter, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia, and Vinoth Ramachandra, secretary for dialogue and social engagement with IFES, Southeast Asia, discuss the moral dimensions of climate change. Is climate change an ethical issue? How? Explore the burning questions with The Veritas Forum at Columbia, 2009.
Why Human Dignity? Click here to join the discussion!	The Veritas Forum at Mayo Clinic, 2010 Natural Law, God, and Human Dignity Robert George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, lays out his argument for human dignity from a natural law perspective. God, George maintains, provides the only compelling rationale for human rights—but all keen thinkers can nonetheless defend the notion. Find out how at The Veritas Forum at Mayo Clinic, 2010.
Why Human Rights? Click here to join the discussion!	The Veritas Forum at the University of Tennessee, 2009 Good without God? Nicholas Wolterstorff, professor emeritus of philosophy at Yale and renowned Christian thinker, explains how he sees theism as the only hope for a coherent view of human rights. David Reidy, non-theist and head of philosophy at UT Knoxville, responds.