Posted on 05/11/2023 4:42:59 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Of course some cultures are superior to others. Some cultures (China) produced things like gunpowder, the compass, paper and lots of other very useful things.
Other cultures (Western) produced even more such as the university, the internal combustion engine, antibiotics, electricity, airplanes, telephones, the internet, space travel, all modern medicine, cars, the joint stock company, democratic forms of government and the rights of man.
Still others never really progressed much beyond the hunter-gatherer stage of development.
Eight percent of the people who’ve ever lived are responsible for 90% of the scientific advances that gave us modern civilization.
Sixteen percent of the people who’ve ever lived are responsible for 97% of the scientific advances that gave us modern civilization.
Homework assignment for the student: Determine who are the eight percent and sixteen percent?
H/T The Graduate
Absolutely not. It depends on the standard of evaluation.
While it is important to respect and appreciate different cultures, not all cultures have the same level of values, ethics, and principles. Western culture, for instance, is built on the foundations of individual liberty, democracy, and free market capitalism. It is superior to cultures which promote collectivism and authoritarianism where individual freedom is suppressed in favor of the needs of the collective. Our culture promotes individual autonomy, freedom, and dignity, and that is what makes our country great. Other cultures that do not value these principles are not equal to ours.
It’s strange how people who are so convinced that there are no superior cultures are quick to push their own (modern Western) values on other cultures. See how the US, EU, and UN push Western ideas about sex and gender on the rest of the world without ever questioning the assumption that our society’s notions are superior.
Technological achievements belong to those who make best use of them. The West was able to make better use of Chinese and Indian technological and scientific innovations than those civilizations or Islamic civilization was able to make — or if not “better” use, then at least more efficient and power-projecting use.
Maybe we don’t need to be defensive (that is, insecure) about this. Western civilization has had incredible achievements that can’t be denied. It also has serious problems, so we don’t have to go around saying that we are everything and they are nothing.
It’s strange how people who are so convinced that there are no superior cultures are quick to push their own (modern Western) values on other cultures. See how the US, EU, and UN push Western ideas about sex and gender on the rest of the world without ever questioning the assumption that our society’s notions are superior.
Technological achievements belong to those who make best use of them. The West was able to make better use of Chinese and Indian technological and scientific innovations than those civilizations or Islamic civilization was able to make — or if not “better” use, then at least more efficient and power-projecting use.
Maybe we don’t need to be defensive (that is, insecure) about this. Western civilization has had incredible achievements that can’t be denied. It also has serious problems, so we don’t have to go around saying that we are everything and they are nothing.
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.“
Claiming all cultures are equal — is a dangerous position
Indeed history has proved that many times.
White liberals prove that White Supremacy is a myth. Dumbest people on the planet.
As long as we understand, as not all do, that there are freely-chosen behaviors which lead to bandage, and that therefore the definition of freedom must be the freedom to do good, rather tha. The freedom to do whatever one wants to do.
Yes.
Good one! Thanks.
You make some valuable points.
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