Rethinking Human Rights

According to this report, "[t]here are voices in the Russian Orthodox Church, calling for a review of the modern concept of human rights."  Here is more:

"Orthodox Christianity does not share 'the Enlightenment's' teaching on man as a being who, in his free state, always seeks the good, while socium, again in its free time, seeks progress", noted Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, speaking in one of the section of the Dialogue of Civilizations forum to close on Saturday in the Greek Island of Rhodos.

The priest underlined that "for most Orthodox Christians, the values of faith, shrines and Motherland stand above those of human rights including the right to live".  The representative of the Church expressed hope that 'today's world will at least learn to respect and harmonize various hierarchies of values rather than establishing the monopoly of anthropocentrism'.

This is interesting.  It sounds like the Orthodox critique is not of the Mary Ann Glendon, "Rights Talk" variety, but is instead more sweeping.  What say our human-rights experts?  Fr. Araujo?  Michael Perry?  Paolo Carozza?

Rick