Over a period of two days, Catholic religious leaders from across the U.S. have signed a statement in objection to the draft report of the newly formed Commission on Unalienable Rights, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo intends to rely upon as "advice on human rights grounded in our nation's founding principles and the principles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights." The letter in objection asserts that the draft report as it currently stands will prioritize religious freedoms over other human rights.
The authors of the statement include former Ambassador to the Holy See Miguel Diaz; Professor Hille Haker, an ethicist who holds the Richard McCormick Endowed Chair of Catholic Moral Theology at Loyola University Chicago; Dr. Mary E. Hunt, co-director of Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual; and the Executive Director of DignityUSA Marianne Duddy-Burke.
"All who endorsed this statement understand that it violates the social justice foundations of our faith," Duddy-Burke said. "Despite Catholic leadership on the Commission and the blessing the report received from a U.S. Cardinal, this document does not further the dignity and equality of all human beings. If implemented, it would limit human rights for countless people, especially those who most demand our care and attention."
Primarily, signers have recommended "more nuance" in the way that the report focuses on the term "religious freedom."
"The writers presuppose that the United States is a country that embraces its Protestant, republican, and liberal traditions, without elaborating on what the cultural changes over the last two hundred years mean for their interpretation. Human rights are founded not only on a Christian (natural law) theory, but have a home in many other religious and non-religious traditions. The Commissioners ignore the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' perspective on religious freedom, as well as the internal debates with regards to religious freedom, race, equal rights of women, and LGBTQ+ rights," the letter states. "Most egregiously, the document misses the present context of religious freedom – namely the discrimination and danger which members of various religions, among them Islam and Judaism, experience in the United States."
Read the full letter and see its signers below:
We are progressive Catholic theologians, community leaders, ministers, and advocates who write to express our strong concerns about the current draft of the Commission on Unalienable Rights. As persons who live and serve in this nation, we cherish and affirm our founding documents and the development of human rights in our country. These have enabled us to strive for a more perfect union and they affirm that all persons "are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
First, we note with dismay the inappropriate way in which the Report was rolled out. Soliciting Cardinal Timothy Dolan in order to all but baptize it through his inexplicable presence and prayer raises serious concerns for us, as Catholics, to the intentions of the Commissioners. Cardinal Dolan's presence conveys the distinct impression that the Report reflects a Christian, perhaps even a Catholic perspective, rather than taking seriously the separation of Religion and State.
Second, we enumerate three specific concerns about this Report related to: 1) the right to religious freedom, 2) the global interdependence and indivisibility of human rights, and 3) the selective, ambiguous, and problematic nature of the Report's historical interpretation of the development of human rights in our country.
(1) Religious Freedom. The Report focuses on "inalienable rights" and highlights religious freedom, together with property rights, as primary. Apart from a brief historical explanation and numerous references to these rights, it does not address the development of religious freedom from the time of the Framers to the present. The ramifications of the plurality of religions, respect for an individual's religious views and conscience, and the legal ramifications of the separation of state and religion are missing.
The writers presuppose that the United States is a country that embraces its Protestant, republican, and liberal traditions, without elaborating on what the cultural changes over the last two hundred years mean for their interpretation. Human rights are founded not only on a Christian (natural law) theory, but have a home in many other religious and non-religious traditions. The Commissioners ignore the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' perspective on religious freedom, as well as the internal debates with regards to religious freedom, race, equal rights of women, and LGBTQ+ rights.
Most egregiously, the document misses the present context of religious freedom – namely the discrimination and danger which members of various religions, among them Islam and Judaism, experience in the United States.
We therefore recommend more nuance regarding the understanding of religious freedom and its relation to other human rights.
(2) Global interdependence. The Report elaborates in several sections on the positive role of U.S. foreign policy. Yet, it is very clear from the text that the U.S. not only cannot but should not be bound by international agreements. This position undermines the validity of the overall human rights project, which seeks international collaboration and accountability in pursuit of global justice. This position contradicts our country's self-understanding since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
While the Report emphasizes the commitment to international development and recommends that the United States "lead by example," it fails to acknowledge that the United States has recently pulled away from several international agreements that seek to protect basic life conditions on Earth, our Common Home, including the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The United States has failed to ratify other Conventions including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
We respectfully recommend that the Commissioners take these facts into account, and revise the position on international cooperation in order to reflect the will of the majority of the American people on these issues.
(3) The Report's historical interpretation of the development of human rights in our country. The authors offer their own interpretation of U.S. history – as a history of progress in the implementation of human rights. It acknowledges that "Progress toward the securing of rights for all has often been excruciatingly slow and has been interrupted by periods of lamentable backsliding" (see page 9). However, the authors are reluctant to clarify when they are writing descriptively and when they infer normative claims about the history of the U.S. They do not question their own philosophical and religious principles that frame their historical interpretations and the resultant ramifications for establishing criteria to assess the validity of claims to human rights.
Finally, they never name the violations of human rights in the present – even though there are ample examples by the current administration, from the violation of religious freedom (Islam), to the violation of the right to asylum and refuge, the caging of immigrant children and their families, the failure to protect the political rights and the social and economic security of its citizens during the pandemic, the re-installment of the federal practice of the death penalty, and many more.
In order for the United States to lead by example, as the Report states, the Trump administration should account for its present human rights violations and address these immediately.
In contrast to the Commissioners, our Catholic faith calls us to embrace the following commitments to universal, indivisible human rights:
We reject this Report's efforts to undermine the cohesion of human dignity and all human rights. Faithful to the principles enshrined in our nation's founding documents and equally committed to the core principles that shape our Catholic faith, we seek to determine priorities of actions arising in contexts and situations of human rights threats and/or human rights violations, rather than drawing a line between civil and political rights on the one hand, and social and economic rights on the other. We affirm the necessity to fight for the realization of universal human rights, both domestically and in U.S. foreign policy.
We hold that one of the core principles of Catholic Social Teaching, namely, the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, requires us as Catholics to demand that our government set action priorities with special regard for the human rights of women and children, as well as political, religious, racial, and sexual minorities.
We emphasize explicitly that the right to religious freedom comes with the obligation to protect the rights of members of all religions and those who adhere to no religion, as well as the obligation to protect and promote all human rights. Furthermore, religious freedom must not be prioritized over other human rights, nor must it be weaponized to discriminate against any person, community, or nation.
We hold that more rights do indeed create more justice. Likewise, rights for more people, beginning with those who have been excluded from basic protections, create more justice.
We hold that global justice requires the cooperation of all nations, with no nation claiming to place itself first, above others. The commissioners' position that the United States may interpret human rights in view of its national interests, requires the explicit clarification that such accommodation must occur within the framework of human rights, not against it. Otherwise, our country would undermine the international solidarity that the human rights framework calls for and needs today to respond to global threats, such as climate change and pandemics like Covid-19.
As Catholics, we stand in solidarity with all witnesses of human rights violations, and we commit ourselves to assure the human rights of every member of the human family, independent of cultural, political, or religious allegiances. We support civil, political, social, economic, and cultural human rights. We urge the U.S. to re-commit itself to the effort to overcome human rights violations, wherever they may occur, and to support fully international collaboration necessary for global justice and peace.
Sincerely,
Dr. Simon Mary Aihiokhai
Karen A. Allen
T. Andino
Edward M. Andrews
Dr. Maria T. Annoni
Jorge A. Aquino, Ph.D.
Jane Audrey-Neuhauser
Regina Bannan, PhD
Frank L. Barham, MD, MSHA, MMH
Michael Barrett
Joseph A Batya
Rev. Kathleen Bean
Betsey Beckman
Leoanrd Bernardo
Rev. Dr. Beverly A. Bingle
Kathleen Blank Riether
Rev. Bernard (Bob) Bonnot
Guilherme Borges Pires
Thomas Borkowski
Patricia A. Boroughs
Nora Borso
The Rev. Gene Bourquin
Sharon Brady
Robert F. Brady, Jr.
Iris Brenk
Roy Brooks-Delphin
Helen Brown
Roberta Brunner
Bruce Byrolly
Rev. Joseph D. Calderone, OSA
John Clay Calhoun
Sharon Carpenter
Gloria Ray Carpeneto
Susanne M Cassidy
Terrence Charlton, S.J.
MaryEllen Cocks
Michael Contreras-Cheatwood
Nancy Corcoran, CSJ
Tom Cordaro
Jeanne M. Cotter
Margarita Covarrubias
Elaine Crawford
Pastor Michael-Vincent Crea
Gordon Creamer
William Curran
Patricia A. Daly, OP
Dr. Neomi De Anda
Nick De Los Reyes
Roger De Silva
Francis DeBernardo
Carol J. Dempsey, OP, Ph.D.
Kathleen Desautels,SP
Rev. Michael C. DeSciose
Miguel H. Diaz, Ph.D.
Samuel (Sammy) Diaz
Dr. J. A. Dick
Elizabeth S. Dirr
David Dirr
Mary Kay Dobrovolny, RSM
Rev. Penny Donovan
John Kevin Donovan
Eleanor Anne Dote
John Doyle
Denise Dreher
Heather DuBois
Marianne Duddy-Burke
Suzanne R Dunn
Adolph Dwenger
D. Alexandra Dyer
Patrick F. Earl, S.J.
Dr. Jerry Fath
Ann Fenelon
Laura Fitzgerald, OSF
Loretta J Fitzgerald
Val Flanagan
Brian P. Flanagan
Dr. Dave Fletcher
Susan J. Forbes
Fred M Fosnacht
Rev. Jeanne Fournier
Rev. Mark R. Francis, C.S.V.
Jane Fredricksen
Jerry and Lucy Furlong
Rosalyn Gallo
Rosemary Ganley, M.Ed.
William George
Kathleen Gibbons Schuck
Pat Gorman
Jeannine Gramick, SL
Kathleen Greenaway
Fr. Joseph K Grieboski
Leslie C. Griffin
Susan M. Grimes
Joseph Grochowski
Kevin Grose
Richard D Gullion
Luis T. Gutierrez
Bertha Haas
Teri Hadro, BVM
Elli Haffey
Hille Haker, Ph.D.
Billy Halgat
Margaret Hanson
A D Harris-Jacobs Ph D
Sharon Hartley
Willey Michael Hartnett
J. Hassan Barbara Havekost
Judith Heffernan, M.Div
Dr. L. E. Hess Jacqueline Hidalgo
John P Hilgeman
Scott Hill, OMI
Susan Hillis
Rosalind F. Hinton
Paula Hoeffer
Ed Hoeffer
A.P. Hopper
Genevieve Hornof
Joseph Hostetler
Manford Dwight Hotchkiss
Rev. Joan M. Houk
Janice A. Hughes
Soline Humbert
Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D.
Mary Jo Iozzio
Martha Jaegers
Scott Jessup
Zach Johnson
Andrea M. Johnson
Pat Shannon Jones
Joyce Kahle
Theresa Kashin
Lawrence Kavanaugh
Carolyn B Kellogg
Esther Kennedy OP
Dr. Claire King
Daniel J. Knepper
Elizabeth Koopman
Fr. Myron Kowalsky
Diane Krantz
Barbara Krawczyk
Isaac Daniel Kreutzer
Mary Kay Kusner
Phil Laughlin
Bradley A. Leger
Robert D. Lepisko
Elizabeth Linehan, RSM
Mariana López
Robert Lord-Schell
Lara Lynch
Bernárd J. Lynch
Patrick Lyons
John M. Kingery
Timothy J. MacGeorge, MDIV, LCSW
Pax Christi Maine
LaDonna Manternach
Nancy and Henry Mascotte
I Christopher Mathews, M.D.
Kevin B. Matthews
Michael J, Mattioli, Ph,D.
David S. Matz, CPPS
Michelle McDonough
Muriel McDonough
Arlene McGarrity
Rev. Elsie Hainz McGrath
Jim McIntosh, OFM
Brian McLauchlin
Brian McNaught
Ginger Megley
Dr. Peter Mena
Danila S. Mendoza
Joan Mertens
Scott Meyer
Nancy L. Meyer
Lawrence Mick
Susan M Mielke
Alexander Mikulich
Br. Ernest J. Miller, FSC
Maria A. Miranda
Kyle B. Moninger
Mary Montour
Michael Moran
Eugene S. Morris
Kenneth Morrision
Michal Morsches
John Mulreany, SJ
Silvia M Munoz
Jim Musumeci
Michael Myers
Dr. Diann L. Neu
Jon Nilson
Darlene Noesen
Patricia Novinski
Patrick and Vera Nugent
Dr. Lauren O'Connell
Myrna Ohmann
Jennifer O'Malley
Dr. Kate Ott
Mary D. Ott
Kori R. Pacyniak
Charles Paglia
Ronald Pagnucco
Sr Dorothy Pagosa
Beatrice Parwatikar
Ruth Payn
Kat Pearthree
Jane Pelletier
Ann Penick
Joseph Pepe
Elizabeth Perry
Rhodes Perry
Bro. Dylan Perry, FSC
Linda Pinto
Ralph Pinto
Paul Pisano
Claire Donohue Pluecker
Tom Pluecker
Edward Poliandro, Ph.D
Elizabeth Powell Piekarczyk
Shawn Priggel
Sara Hutchinson Ratcliffe
Rev. Chava Redonnet
Conor Reidy
Maureen Reimer
Noraleen Renauer
Michael Reynolds
Katie Riney
Dolores Ritter
Charles A. Rizzuto, LICSW
Dr. Marian Ronan
Helen Rose
Richard J. Rosendall
Dr. Susan A. Ross
Ish Ruiz
Prof. Jean Sanborn
Patricia Sandall
Joy Scavo
Susan Schessler
Judith Schiavo
Rev. David E Schlaver
Arline M. Schoenberger
Betty Scholten
Christine Schroder
Francis Schüssler Fiorenza
Karen A. Schwarz, Ph.D.
Irene Senn
Janice Sevre-Duszynska
Joan P. Shea
Martha Sherman
Annette Shine
William Shine MD
Don E. Siegal
Meg Siewert
Mary E Sikora
Father Norbert Sinski
Prof. William H. Slavick
S. Kathy Slesar, OP
Mary Smith
Rev. Mary Frances Smith
The Reverend Murdock Smith, PhD
Kenneth F. Smits
Dr. Jose A. Solís-Silva
Mary Nicholas Sommerfeldt
Lewis Speaks-Tanner
Kathy Sprague
Mary Ann Steutermann
Carolyn Stobba-Wiley
Art Stoeberl
Jeffrey A. Stone
Anthony Suárez-Abraham
Larry Sutter
Maureen Tate
Yannik Thiem
Dr. Terrence W. Tilley
Rev. Toni Tortorilla
Cristina L.H. Traina
Terry Travis
Gloria Ulterino
Jerry Valenta
Medora Van Denburgh
Wayne Vanek
Patricia Keane Vhay
Thomas Vhay
Mary Elizabeth Vigil
Ted von Eiff
Kim Wayne
Rev. Dr. Diane S. Whalen
Win Whelan, OSF
Gary Wiesmann
Tamara Wilcox
Donna Wilhelm, SSJ-TOSF
Kathleen F. Wilson
Jane Wilson-Marquis
Rev. Steve Wolf
Mary T. Yelenick, Esq.
Carmen Zabalegui
Ann Zech
Robert Zillich
Dr. Nancy P. Zimmerman
