Human Rights as Implicit Religion: Exploring the psychological correlates of belief in human rights and human rights activism among 15- to 18-year-old adolescents in England and Wales

Bailey’s notion of implicit religion suggests that in contemporary societies the functions served by formal or explicit religions may be assumed by other systems of beliefs. The present paper tests this thesis in respect of the apparently growing significance of concern with human rights, drawing on a sample of 1,001 adolescents in England and Wales between the ages of 15 and 18 years. Just as the study of explicit religion distinguishes between religious belief and religious practice, so the conceptualisation of concern with human rights as implicit religion may distinguish between belief (in the sense of acceptance of the claims made within the human rights legislation) and practice (in the sense of activism to assert the causes of human rights). Previously published research has shown that, after controlling for personal and psychological factors, explicit religion has a positive effect on explaining individual differences in empathy. Data from the present study demonstrate that both belief in human rights and human rights activism, conceptualised as implicit religion, also have a positive effect on explaining individual differences in empathy. These new data provide some support for Bailey’s conceptualisation of implicit religion by indicating that belief in human rights and human rights activism are functioning in relation to empathy in the same way as explicit religion.