But it also hints at the way that atheism — especially a public and famous atheism — can become as self-defended as any religious dogma, impervious to any new fact or unexpected revelation.
And he argued strongly in support of the attribution of several specific first-order rights: for example, besides those which have already been mentioned (such as self-defence), he vigorously defended rights to property.
Coincidentally, even as he defended Russia's effective annexation of Ukrainian territory as upholding the Crimean people's right to self-determination, Putin signed a law criminalizing public calls for the violation of "the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation".
Her comments came as some academics wrote to the Observer describing the "breakneck deficit-reduction plan" as "self-defeating" and the chancellor defended economic policy ahead of an IMF report due out on Monday afternoon.
"Japan needs to lift rules such as the prohibition on exercising collective self-defence (defending other allied forces)," he said.
Those who uphold the status hierarchy can then see themselves not simply as advancing group self-interest but as defending a desirable moral order.
Yet many of these women also rank high on what was once seen as traditionally male traits such as "self-reliant, independent, able to defend one's beliefs, willing to take risks, and able to make decisions easily".
The US has defended drone attacks as self-defence against al-Qaida and has refused to allow judicial scrutiny of the UAV programme.
Though cruel on the surface, Bernd defended this act as self-preservation: by accepting more refugees, Switzerland might trigger Nazi aggression and become increasingly susceptible to invasion.
As expected, Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan defended his player.
The most celebrated among us defend self-expression as "a basic value" of design.
