Overcoming Religious Objections to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
![handle is hein.journals/emint20 and id is 91 raw text is: OVERCOMING RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE
CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
David M. Smolin*
INTRODUCTION
This Essay is an exercise in mediation between children's rights groups and
conservative religious groups within the United States. Of course the two
groups are not mutually exclusive; many persons of conservative religious
belief are significantly involved in the human rights or children's rights
movements. However, to a significant degree, the two groups have collided
over the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).' The United States is
virtually the only nation that has not ratified the CRC,2 and some religious
groups' opposition to ratification has apparently played a significant role.3
Unfortunately, the alliance of mutual concern that should exist between
conservative religious communities and human rights advocacy, including
children's rights, has foundered to some degree due to the sharp disagreement
about U.S. ratification of the CRC.
Mediation, as a method of dispute resolution, requires the concerted effort
of each side to understand the other in an environment of mutual respect.
Because I am an active participant in the kind of religious community that has
opposed ratification of the CRC, while also being actively involved in
scholarship on children's issues, I am hopeful that this Essay can further the
* Professor of Law, Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. I am
grateful to the organizers of the What's Wrong with Children's Rights? conference for allowing me to
participate, and I very much enjoyed the opportunity to learn from the conference participants and audience
comments and questions. I would like to acknowledge the research assistance of Lee Ellen Bagley and Cheryl
Howell Oswalt.
I Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nov. 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3 [hereinafter CRC].
2 Johan D. van der Vyver, American Erceptionalism: Human Rights, International Criminal Justice, and
National Self-Righteousness, 50 EMORY LJ. 775, 778 (2001) (noting that United States and Somalia are the
only nations that have not ratified the CRC).
3 See, e.g., Amnesty International USA, Children's Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.amnestyusa.org/children/crnfaq.html (last visited Feb. 27, 2006)
(stating that [clonservative religious organizations ... have spearheaded the efforts in opposition to the
Convention).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/emint20&div=11&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Overcoming Religious Objections to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
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