Turning Religious Values into Law Through the Language of Human Rights: Legal Ethics and the Right to Life Under the European Convention on Human Rights

Abstract

In a globalized world in which different cultures and religions intermingle and live in close proximity to one another, there are hardly any truly mono-religious states any more. At the same time mainstream politics has become significantly secularized in most of Europe.This has implications for the way the role of religiously motivated values are perceived in the context of making and interpreting legal rules. Seen from a specifically Catholic perspective, this article investigates whether it is morally licit to import (religiously motivated moral) values into law. Looking at the moral fundament of the European Convention of Human Rights and at the issue of the right to life of unborn children, the relationship between justice and faith is investigated.