Is Any 'One Culture Superior to Others'?

American Thinker ^ | 11 May, 2023 | Raymond Ibrahim

[MtnClimber]

There can be only one answer to this question, but it's the unpopular answer.

Recently, while apologizing to "indigenous peoples" and denouncing Christians — without the all-important historical context — Pope Francis declared, "Never again can the Christian community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others[.]"

This — claiming all cultures are equal — is a dangerous position, not least as it leads to relativism and the abnegation of Truth.

For most Western people today, the word culture conjures at best superficial differences — "exotic" dress or food. In reality, however, cultures are nothing less than entire and distinct worldviews with their own unique sets of right and wrongs, often rooted in a religion or philosophy.

Indeed, for some thinkers, such as essayist T.S. Elliot, "culture and religion" are inextricably linked and "different aspects of the same thing."

Culture may even be described simply as that which makes life worth living. ... [N]o culture can appear or develop except in relation to a religion. ... We can see a religion as the whole way of life of a people, from birth to the grave, from morning to night and even in sleep, and that way of life is also its culture. [From Elliot's Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, 1943, p.100-101, emphasis in original.]

Similarly, for Anglo-French historian Hilaire Belloc,

Cultures spring from religions; ultimately the vital force which maintains any culture is its philosophy, its attitude toward the universe; the decay of a religion involves the decay of the culture corresponding to it — we see that most clearly in the breakdown of Christendom today.

In short, cultures bring much more than, say, the convenience of having Indian cuisine down the street.

[aspasia]

No more evolution, finally.

[FreedomForce]

At the risk of running into Godwin’s Law, it sounds like Francis doesn’t think the culture of Nazi Germany was so bad.

[Da Coyote]

All cars are equal.
No car is better than any others.
A Yugo is equal to a Toyota.

All cultures are equal.
No culture is better than any other.

All religions are equal.
No religion is superior to any other.

Oh, and humans are causing climate change. ;-)

[Chad C. Mulligan]

https://www.unz.com/freed/are-white-men-gods-ii/

[Brian Griffin]

American culture has gone downhill greatly since 1962.

The rate of decline of our culture is now very rapid.

[Qwapisking]

The greatest cultures are the cultures that afford the greatest freedoms. Now how simple is that.

[muir_redwoods]

Any volunteers to equate the wonderful culture of the North Sentinalese Islanders with Renaissance Florence?

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

The Christian culture based on truthful Biblical teaching in ANY culture is superior. I’ve seen it with my own eyes in Asia and Latin America. It’s not a country’s specific culture, it’s the Bible as a guide. I can’t believe that guy is allowed to lead that religion and say stuff like that. Anyone who continues in that religion and doesn’t openly condemn him is a servant of...oh, never mind.

[RoosterRedux]

Righteousness is THE fundamental, universal value of life and reality itself.

The Judeo/Christian God doesn't just epitomize it, it's who he is.

Cultures that strive for it are superior. Cultures that rebel against it are cancerous.

As C.S. Lewis said, natural law is written in our very cells. It shows us that there is a force--a being--behind the universe and he is defined by fair play, unselfishness, courage, good faith, honesty, truthfulness, and, most of all, love.

And lest we think God is soft, righteousness is the hardest thing imaginable. Righteousness requires that we strive for it through pain, danger, and even at the risk of losing our very lives.

Righteousness is hard. As Lewis said, it is “as hard as nails.”

[Fai Mao]

“Pope Francis proclaimed the end of Christianity to the world.”

Frank is a Heretic among Heretics.

[Brian Griffin]

The 21st Century is without a doubt going to be considered the ‘Asian Century’.

Many Western countries are a self-destructive path.

[Brian Griffin]

Marriage can be a blessing or a curse.

It is pretty clear that the partnering up processes in the USA are failing badly.

Americans often have unrealistic expectations and are not prepared to be good partners.

[Brian Griffin]

My current thought is that good culture involves producing the positive and avoiding the destructive.

[conservativeimage]

Amaru, the sacred snake, was one of the great spirits worshipped by the Aztecs. The indigenous people named their land Amaraca after their god. This is the suppressed origin of the name America.

From America Needs Fatima Blog

“For the coronation of the one Aztec king 80,400 human hearts were cut out in four days. Cortés sees the idols, and the gruesome traces of their inhuman worship ... He seizes an iron bar, even before the Spaniards he has sent for have arrived, and leaps on the idols to smash them to pieces before the dumbfounded priests.”

America continues to be a land of massive satanic human sacrifice. Our unelected rulers are killing us and plan for more. Anyone coming here is walking into a trap.

[PapaBear3625]

The greatest cultures are the cultures that afford the greatest freedoms. Now how simple is that.

Freedom to do what?

Will you allow freedom to engage in prostitution? Child sex? Do drugs? Much depends on what freedoms you advocate.

[Reeses]

some cultures are, overall, better than other cultures

Culture is just the software. The hardware it runs on is also significant. Some hardware is better than others, depending on the task at hand. Roman culture run on Central American hardware results in a banana republic, coming soon to an America near you.

[libertylover]

An honest answer is obvious if one looks at this list of major achievements of the last 1000 years and ask which culture(s) achieved them. I’m open to corrections (& additions).

Air Conditioning
Airplane
Anesthesia
Antibiotics
Automobile
Calculus
Calendar
Circumnavigation of the globe
Clock/timekeeping
Coal Power
Communications satellites
Computer/calculator
Declaration of Independence/Constitution
Diesel engine
Discovery of the New World
Electrical power distribution/Alternating Current
Fabric loom/Cotton gin
Fertilizer
Fire - harnessing of
Great art
Great music
Gun powder (Chinese)
Identifying chemical elements
Insulin
Internal combustion engine
Internet
Light bulb
Microscope
Natural gas power
Nitroglycerine/dynamite
Nuclear power
Ocean voyages
Open heart surgery
Pacemaker
Penicillin
Printing press/moveable type
Pythagorean Theorem
Radio
Rocket
Smallpox vaccine
Spaceship capsule
Steam engine/locomotive
Submarine
Telegraph
Telephone
Telescope
Television
Toilet
Tractor
Transistor
Trigonometry
Turbine
Understanding nuclear power
Understanding orbital systems
Understanding of planetary movements

[T.B. Yoits]

Before answering the question, "is one culture superior to another?", one must first ask, "is the other one actually a culture?"

More and more, what is referred to as a culture is a construct designed to justify behavior with the "soft bigotry of lowered expectations".

"The intelligentsia, both black and white, became more prone in the later period (1960s) to make excuses…for moral squalor and barbaric behavior. After such notions permeated the society, barbaric behavior and moral squalor became accepted norms within some segments." -Thomas Sowell

[Captain Rhino]

Important point.

Even more radical was the claim, stated most explicitly in the Declaration of Independence and confirmed implicitly in the limitations imposed in the Constitution, that governments are the creations of the people, exist only to serve the purposes the people created them for, and have no inherent sovereign powers beyond those given to them by the people.

These were radical ideas in the 18th Century and remain radical even today. Of course, the authoritarian impulse of all bureaucracies has gotten out of hand and will remain so until it is strongly checked through review and amendment of the Constitution. Due to the inherent conflict of interest, Congress cannot be relied upon to carry out this process. A Convention of the States, carefully crafted and controlled, will be necessary to dial back and/or eliminate federal government abuses in all its branches.

[Ancesthntr]

Pope Francis declared, “Never again can the Christian community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others[.]”
—————
Really? So the Communist Poop’s position is that countries in the West with a culture of liberty, guaranteed rights for all and tolerance for different political opinions, religions and other values, plus the economic freedom to become more prosperous from hard work an innovation, is not superior to the culture of Nazi Germany or Russia under Stalin, both of which stood for the diametrically opposite values (and enforced those diametrically opposite values with murderous brutality)?

In the immortal words of the great philosopher, Col. Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon!”