Originally Posted by Ron G.
Thus, if one chooses to regard our rights as nothing more than a mutually agreed-upon set of do/do not at some freeze-frame moment in our history, then we have absolutely no moral basis to criticize any age or any society's denial of life and liberty to anyone for any reason whatsoever.

Ron,
I do not see that we DO have a moral basis to cast our gaze back on history and criticise decisions and actions of past civilizations.

That said, would anyone care to offer a definition of "rights"

"It's not a lie if you believe it." -- George Costanza
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. --Bertrand Russel