Inter-Religious Declarations of Human Rights: Grounding Rights or Constructing 'Religion'?

This article offers a critical analysis of four recent inter-religious declarations of human rights: (a) the 2008 Faith in Human Rights Statement; (b) the 1998 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World's Religions; (c) the 1993 Declaration Toward a Global Ethic; and (d) the 1993 Universal Declaration of a Global Ethic. I argue that, although these declarations purport to provide human rights with religious support, they function in practice to define 'religion'.