Four representatives of various faiths discussed the interaction between religion and human rights in front of an audience of approximately 60 people at the Center for Ethics yesterday.

Titled “Active Faith: Religion and Human Rights in Atlanta,” the event featured representatives from the Jewish, Christian, Islam and Hindu faiths. Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, Pastor Buddy Hoffman, Associate Professor of Physics P. Venugopala Rao and attorney Khurram Baig discussed the stances that the different faiths took on human rights issues, especially with regards to Atlanta.

The panelists started off by defining human rights as inherent and fixed. They described a set of innate rights that people are born with and entitled to, adding that human beings have a duty to protect those rights.

“If we view human rights as coming from a government or coming from a piece of paper or coming from a culture, that’s negotiable,” Hoffman said. “But if we view them as coming from our divine creator, then it’s not optional.”

Baig cited a verse from the Koran about murder, which he said was especially appropriate at a time when violence has become a common occurrence in the Middle East. The verse states that when someone takes a life, it is as if he is taking the life of all of mankind; when he saves a life, it is as if he is saving the life of all of mankind.

Sugarman explained that the verse’s message is a fundamental teaching of Judaism.

“It’s God’s dream that all of us will one day understand who we are and how we’re interconnected, and our dream is that we will make God’s dream come true,” Sugarman said.

The panelists all agreed that they prefer to focus on the ways in which their faiths are similar. They said that finding common ground allows religions to mobilize so that they have the ability to address issues like racism, sexism, homophobia, homelessness, human trafficking and class divisions, all of which were mentioned during the discussion.

“The problem is, we who agree on so many things sit around and debate about the things we disagree on,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman and Sugarman debated briefly about gay rights, raising the issues of acceptance and literal interpretation of scriptures.

After drawing parallels between Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, Rao offered an analogy that exemplified tolerance of all human beings.

“If I have a pet animal, no matter what kind of things are wrong, if it’s barking or limping, it’s my pet animal and my dearest thing,” Rao said. “I will accept it as it is, and that’s what I read from my traditional education.”

All panelists acknowledged that modern society is changing and that people must learn to adapt.

Sugarman argued that people must adjust their interpretation of the scriptures in order to adapt to a changing world.

“Here is the ultimate problem: Until we reach the point when we have enough guts and courage to understand our scriptures as they are, written in a specific time period reflecting the periods of that time, they won’t make sense in 2009 in our sense of the world,” Sugarman said, sarcastically adding that he “always wondered if my dad would take me out and stone me as the Bible calls for.”

While acknowledging the progress made over the past century in the domain of human rights, the panelists recognized that there is still much that can be improved.

Young said he believes sexism and racism still exist despite this progress.
Following Atlanta’s motto from the civil rights era — that it is a city too busy to hate — the panelists expressed hope that people will someday be guaranteed respect from every fellow human being.

The panel discussion was sponsored by the Inter-Religious Council and moderated by the Rev. Bridgette Young, senior associate dean of the Chapel and Religious Life.

— Contact Kelly Margard.