Reverend Dr Edward Norman, Dean of Peterhouse, Cambridge, reflects on the close relationship between Christianity and Western liberal ideals in his third Reith lecture. Speaking from his series entitled 'Christianity and the World Order' Norman reviews how civil rights have followed the paths of religious doctrines.

There is no great dissimilarity between secular and religious outlooks on the moral question of human rights, but Reverend Norman asks, what happens when human rights violations happen under the authority of a Christian state?