I agree with you, Frank, some cultures are better than others, just as
some scientific theories and some people are better than others. Some
cultures are peaceful while others go to war. Some cultures pretend to
value the individual, while placing increasing emphasis on the state.
Some cultures are too corrupt to hold fair elections and others allow
big companies to rip off the population. Fortunately, we do not have
such a culture.
Nevertheless Frank, I get the impression that you think a culture based
on Christian principles is better than one based on Islamic teachings or
Buddhism, for example. To further refine the approach, I assume only
certain Christian beliefs are acceptable. I agree, Christianity in
recent centuries has provided a good culture basis, the behavior of the
Nazis during WWII and slave owners in the US south being big, but not
the only, exceptions. But now in this century we are presented with a
problem. Christianity, which is based on brotherly love and a value to
all life, is believed to be in a war with Islam, a religion which
represents a large fraction of the world's population and which is in
control of most energy sources. In addition, we are now running out of
energy, land space, and water in many regions, but the Catholic Church
will not support population limitations based on birth control. The
great Christian cultures are rapidly destroying the rain forests, over
fishing the oceans, and polluting the atmosphere with CO2. In other
words, a large number of Christians are taking several approaches that
may well destroy our own culture while spending their political support
and money trying to save other cultures from "evil". How do you deal
with this problem?
Regards,
Ed
Grimer wrote:
At 01:55 pm 27/06/2005 -0400, you wrote:
thomas malloy wrote:
That area of agreement a leftist notion called cultural relativism (the
idea that all cultures are all equally good) which is leading to cultural
suicide.
That definition of cultural relativity is completely wrong, misleading and
childish.
Etc.
The real problem seems to be in the meaning of the
word relativism as opposed to relativity. For example,
=================================================
Benedict XVI, however, has been critical of
progressive Catholicism. In a homily delivered
at a Mass before the cardinals began the conclave
Monday, he warned against "relativism, which is
letting oneself be 'swept along by every wind of
teaching.' [It] looks like the only attitude
[acceptable] to today's standards. We are moving
toward a dictatorship of relativism, which does
not recognize anything as for certain and which
has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's
own desires."
=================================================
I wouldn't want to hoist you on your own petard because
I think your post was very interesting and well argued.
However. I think you need to get inside the minds of
people like Malloy and the Pope (and me for that matter)
and recognise that we understand the word "relativism"
in a different way than you might. 8-)
Cheers,
Frank Grimer
