Of Negative and Positive Rights: What Part Do They Play in Culture? Pt 1.

From the Center

Negative rights and positive rights are not the same things. To provide what you do not have is a positive, to keep you from losing what you already have is a negative. Are either of them truly rights in the way that the American Declaration describes unalienable rights? The government is geared to provide the second, that is, protection by law, but completely unable to provide first, that is, charity, without coercion. Director Hodges discusses this aspect of our cultural debate with Dr. Cal Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of the Earth. The hope is to clarify what we can and should expect from government and from the Church by considering the government's role in God's economy.
Government, charity, rights, church, critical theory, racism, sexism