Visions of a New World
The Economist discusses a recent paper on the interplay between faith-based organizations and the United Nations in the times of secular international relations. Professor Haynes of London Metropolitan University considers the impact of religious institutions on sexual and reproductive rights, as well as a recent campaign by Islamic countries to establish the “defamation of religion” as a violation of human rights. “[T]he end of the cold war ushered in some new planet-wide conversations about ‘values’ and ‘behaviour’ along with cultural and economic globalisation. And that created an opening for ‘faith-based organisations’ of every kind.”