Cultural Relativism and how it affects you
So yesterday I watched the movie, “Son of Rambow”, which if you haven’t seen, is a great cute lil’ movie filled with aws and sweet chuckles. Not to give away too much but the main protagonist of the story is a young boy who, through a series of events, befriends his bully and they film a movie together.
The young boy throughout the story has to find ways to sneak around his mother, who tries to stop him from seein’ this bully turned friend, who is an “outsider”, someone not of their religion. As the movie develops you find that this boy & his mom and siblings belong to the Plymouth Brethren, “a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Brethren).
The Brethren, in this movie, try to impose their will and their way of life on both the mom and the son aand you will just have to see the movie to see what happens but this segues into my thought of the day: cultural relativism and how it affects you
To be perfectly clear, I have nothing against any religion or cult, I truly believe that, well truth itself, is subjective. You believe what you believe, I believe what I will believe. What I believe affects different aspects of my life as I’m sure what you believe affects different aspects of the way you live.
Depending on how a person was raised and a kajillion other x-factors determines how much of a role religion plays in life.
9 times outta 10 though, if a person is religious he/she’s religion is that of a religion that exists in his immediate area of living.
Cultural Relativism – “the principle that an individual human’s beliefs and activities should be understood in terms of his or her own culture” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_relativism).
To reveal a bit about myself, I was raised in a Catholic household, which in itself holds it own specific values and “rules”. You are to abide by this ethical structure set for you to reach the “golden gates”, you know? The mortal sins, venial sins…going to communion, confession, etc..
Growing up I didn’t know what purpose all these rituals had, all I knew is that Sunday was the day for them..well except for Confessions..those were Saturday. 
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I attended church and took communion and such b/c that is the way I was raised and that is the religion that was taught to me.
Catholicism is the dominant religion where I come from and therefore almost everyone in that area is Catholic.
If you head northeast of where I live you’ll run into more Protestants, you head even more north run into some Baptists..go to the other side of the world, Hindi, Taoists, etc…
Depending on where you were born pretty much determines your religious faith. Funny though isn’t it? Each and every one of us is raised to believe their religion is the “right” one, the only path of righteousness and tranquility.
How can that be right though, if every single religion is the “right” one, SOMEONE has to be lying right? Not necessarily.
I would say 99.9% of monotheistic religions carry the same basic ideologies..there is a supreme being, a great power, an all powerful deity that we worship and praise for his/her creation of us..the story always differs in its twists and turns but the idea is the same.
Even polytheistic religions. Only difference is instead of saying one supreme being made everything, a lot of supreme beings made everything. Of course I’m exponentially simplifying it all but really I think thats what it comes down to.
None of us know “for sure” what is out there and who “made” us. We are led by our “faith” whatever it may be..never seeing what we believe in, just knowing in our hearts that it exists somewhere.
And I think it does. for each and every one of us.
I believe that, as long as we are kind to our fellow man and make the best possible choices we can make in our lives, the future holds limitless possibilities for us all.
. enjoy.
