Rights and wrongs

From Chuck Colson's Breakpoint on Nov 6, 2009

"....now we learn that the President has been quietly cutting off aid to groups that monitor human rights abuses and fight on behalf of human freedom--especially in Iran.

"...these actions go against everything America stands for. Our worldview is largely formed by our Christian heritage--one that puts human dignity first. Has this administration forgotten that human rights have always been America's greatest export?

"...We believe that all humans are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, as our Declaration of Independence says.

"I knew this before I became a Christian. In 1973 President Nixon sent me to Moscow to negotiate for the release of Soviet Jews. I told the hand-line Soviet negotiator, that if the Soviets did not loosen their restrictions, Congress would not pass the trade treaty, which the Soviets desperately needed. Release the Jews, I said--or kiss American grain goodbye.

"He pounded on the table and shouted "You have no right to interfere in our internal affairs!"

"'Those aren't your internal affairs,' I replied. 'Human rights are not conferred by government;
they cannot be denied by government. They are God-given. We call them inalienable.'

"He agreed to free the Jews--and America shipped its grain.

"I can't take credit for that; it was the U.S. Congress and the American people who freed those captives. And it will take the same pressure from Congress and the American people to free the captives in China, Iran, North Korea and everywhere else people are denied their God-given rights."