Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Proverbs 31:9 NIV
Defend Rights
In Canada, an individual’s human rights are protected by the Constitution, as well as federal, provincial and territorial laws. Canada’s human rights laws often reflect international human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1948, the international community came together to make sure that human rights laws were written and understood. When it was complete, the Declaration provided a list of 30 articles outlining everyone’s universal human rights.
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There is a lot of injustice in our world. With global communications and social media, we are made aware of just how prevalent injustice is – human trafficking is a huge challenge and there are more people living as refugees today than at any other time in the history of the world. As followers of Jesus, how do we respond to all of this? As much as we wish we could ignore it all, the word of God doesn’t give us that privilege of doing so. King Solomon, a powerful king, wrote this in Proverbs 31:9: “Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” There is a reason why so much of community service is led by churches. It should not come as a surprise that much of Canada’s social safety net was driven by Christians – such things as anti-poverty work, the Children’s Aid Society, the Humane Society and our national medicare system, came out of the passion of Jesus followers to improve society. We are called to have that same concern in our generation. Christians are leading anti-trafficking groups, speaking up on behalf of those who have no voice. We are still called to speak up and judge fairly, defending the rights of the poor and needy.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley