Cultural Relativism and Religion: Are We Born This Way?

                      Cultural Relativism and Religion:   Are We Born This Way?

Religion is more than simply a belief in a god or gods, a group of individuals who share a common belief, or a way of seeking and finding life’s meaning.  While religion does seek to provide an explanation of universal phenomenon and life’s occurrences, not all religions attribute these ideas to a god concept.  What then, is a substantive explanation for religion? And what role does cultural relativism play in religious indoctrination?

The family resemblance model is a philosophical ideology made popular by German philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein.   The family resemblance model argues that things that have been traditionally thought to be connected by one singular element may instead be connected based on a series of imbricate commonalities.  Based on the family resemblance model, religions tend to share some or all of the following traits:

·        Belief in a god, gods, or the supernatural

·        Explanations of suffering and evil

·        Rituals and ceremonies that include music or dance

·        Means of deliverance or salvation

·        An authoritative, sacred text and or scriptures

·        Specialists who interpret the sacred text

·        Explanations for the nature of reality

Many religious beliefs are based on tradition and cultural relativism.  Cultural relativism involves the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from an inter-cultural perspective.  The study of African American History, for example, is unique from the study of the African Diaspora although both have commonalities.  Although many African Americans can trace their ancestry to West Africa, African Americans have carved out their own unique history within the context of American culture and society.  Traditionally, most African Americans are Christian based on the religious customs that have been passed down to them from previous generations.   While not all religions share the same beliefs, many do share the same traits.  Buddhism, for example, does not believe in a higher power, but it does have a sacred text called the Sutras and priests.  Individuals who practice Hinduism believe in karma and reincarnation; how we behave in this life has an impact on our next life’s cycle.

Due to cultural relativism and tradition, many of us were born into the religions that we practice; therefore we are indoctrinated with the religious traditions of our cultures.  Those religions traditions often include various rites of passage ceremonies such as birth dedications, coming of age ceremonies, and ceremonies for death.   Cultural relativism helps to shape our perspectives in terms of acceptable and unacceptable cultural norms, but some ideas that are acceptable within one culture may not be accepted in another.  Examples of some cultural but not universally accepted practices are polygamy, some rites of passage ceremonies, genital mutilation, and issues related to women’s rights. 

Because of the effects of cultural relativism, tradition, and indoctrination, one might pose the following types of questions: 

§  Are we all born atheist? An atheist is someone who lacks belief in the existence of a god or gods.   Does a lack of knowledge regarding the culturally relative view of god mean that atheism comes before indoctrination?

 

§  Agnostics are individuals who neither practice faith nor disbelief in a god; they simply are unsure.  Therefore, maybe we are born agnostic? 

§  A culturally relative answer to these questions is no, since atheism and agnosticism are considered choices. Unlike atheism and agnosticism, religion seeks to provide an explanation for supernatural existence.  But from an objective standpoint, should religion be considered a choice as well? 

Cultural relativism is not only about inter-cultural perspectives, but it also requires that we are objective in how we view others as we seek to understand them.  Everyone’s perspective is shaped by their cultural and life experiences; the more life experiences that we have beyond our own culture, the broader our view of the world becomes.  It does not mean that we will change our own beliefs, but we may become more open to the ideas of others.

Additional commentary:  I have learned a lot the past few days.  It is hard to write an article and pose these types of questions without experiencing the feelings associated with cultural relativism.  I strongly believe that we are born with a concept of the divine already in us, but we are too naïve to recognize it as children.  At the same time, my beliefs may not be someone else’s beliefs, therefore, it is important to remain objective on certain issues, particularly as I seek to learn more about the perspectives of others. 

I distinguish religion from spirituality, which is something I will discuss in another article.  My goal is to provide an objective view in the articles since they will become part of an online database, and I will add my commentary at the bottom of my blog posts.  In the first lecture for Cultural Literacy for Religion, Dr. Berkson pointed out that knowledge of how others practice religion provides us with a better understanding of various cultures, politics, and the world.  The idea of cultural relativism was discussed in the lectures from the African Diaspora, although he was not focusing particularly on religion in the first few lectures.  I thought it would be interesting to examine this concept as it relates to religion due to the first video lecture that I watched from the Souls Beliefs course.  It is an open enrollment course on Coursera, and I encourage you to take it if this is something of interest. 

Courses currently reviewing:  Cultural Literacy for Religion, The African Diaspora, and Souls Beliefs.

Dr. Kristy Taylor, DHsc, PhD candidate, University of Sedona