Atheists, what is your view on human rights?

[VociMike]

Do they exist?

If so, why, and from whence do they come?

Are they universal and immutable?

Just curious how atheists would view the subject. As a former agnostic I think I would have said it’s really just the golden rule reworded, and that human “rights” are really just human it-would-be-nice-ifs.

 

[whatever]

Human rights in a godless Universe

 

[VociMike]

Human rights in a godless Universe

That certainly was an up-front article.

To summarize from the article:

I have come to the conclusion that all theories of rights are based on nothing but hot air. When you take God out of the equation the whole framework of rights falls apart. Human rights are a fiction. Sometimes a convenient fiction, or a placemarker, holding a fixed point in a heavily pitching sea of uncertainty, holding the spot where you want a fixed moral reference point to be; but a fiction all the same.
…
By denying the existence of basic human rights I am not saying that we should act as if the people we meet have no rights. We should act AS IF all people had rights. This is our responsibility.