ProfessorBainbridge.com has a link to a 40-page PDF report on “Human Rights Advocacy in the Mainline Protestant Churches (2000-2003)”. The report was released by “The Institute on Religion and Democracy”, an outfit I know nothing about (their URL: http://www.ird-renew.org). I have not read the whole 40 pages, but the “Executive Summary” on pp. 1-2 of the PDF has some interesting things to say.

This isn't your average “human rights” screed. The paper criticizes four mainline Protestant denominations for seemingly misplaced criticism of human rights efforts. The group finds that the US and Israel are the targets of over 2/3 (69%) of the human rights criticisms of these denominations, and that “Of the fifteen worst human rights offenders in the world, only five were criticized by the churches during the four year period studied.”

Interesting stuff. The most interesting thing (to me) in the executive summary, however, is something I can't summarize, but will rather quote at length:

In the 1970s and 1980s, the churches made the mistake of supporting oppressive Soviet-sponsored liberation movements around the world. They largely ignored human rights abuses in the Soviet Union and its satellite states, instead focusing on U.S. policy as the primary source of abuse. It appears that mainline denominations may be making the same mistake today with the Arab and Muslim worlds, ignoring many of the most serious abuses while apparently laying heavy blame upon the United States and Israel not only for their own lesser abuses, but also for the abuses of others.

It is evident from the tone and language used by mainline church leaders in their statements and legislation that, as a group, they believe that the United States is often a malignant influence in the world. This pervasive anti-Americanism is demonstrated time and again in their public policy advocacy, and one need not investigate far to find it.

Given the dramatic unwillingness of the mainline churches to criticize states around Israel for their human rights abuses—not only the connections to worldwide terrorism, but also the oppression and brutality toward their own people—it is not unreasonable to ask whether anti-Jewish animus may play some role in the churches’ skewed human rights advocacy.

Wow.  This report is interesting to me because the report doesn't pooh-pooh the concept of human rights. The report is instead critical of misguided efforts in the area of human rights (from what I can tell by the executive summary).

I'm not sure when I'll make it through the whole 40 pages; it might just end up being little more than a skim. If you know anything about The Institute on Religion and Democracy, their views, or reasons why not to trust what they put out, please drop a comment here.

Update: In the comments section, ricoblog reader Patrick points us to a listing of IRD officers, directors, and advisors. The name I recognized immediately was that of Dr. Thomas C. Oden, who authored the commentary on the Pastoral Epistles in the “Interpretation” series from Westminster/John Knox. Dr. Oden is also the General Editor of IVP's highly-acclaimed Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture.