According to the New York Times, a Muslim man in Germany beat his wife from the beginning of their marriage. She finally had enough and separated. He then threatened to kill her. She filed for a speedy divorce. The German judge turned down her request citing the Qur’an which allows husbands to beat their wives.
Fortunately the judge has been removed from the case and even progressive Muslims in Germany are condemning the ruling.
I suspect that most Americans will be upset about this ruling as are most Germans. I don’t think advocates of multiculturalism, however, have any right to be upset. The ruling apparently deals with a Muslim couple, married in a Muslim country and presumably living by Muslim rules. If the ideology of multiculturalism is correct we shouldn’t pass judgment on other cultures, so why should this judge be condemned for judging this couple in accordance with their own religion and culture? And why should this victim have the right to opt out of Muslim law just because things are not going well for her?
Of course, this is absolute nonsense—but then, so is multiculturalism.
Hat tip to Ed for bringing this to my attention.
Friday, March 23, 2007
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8 comments:
Who are these multiculturalists who say that we shouldn't condemn wife beating or slavery or rape or ethnic cleansing because you shouldn't judge other people's cultures? They sound like terrible people. What are their names? Can you please provide some links to their writings? I'm shocked to discover that they even exist.
John we see the result of cultural relativism every time those of us on the right try to point out the danger of the Jihadist threat, and those on the Left attack us as racists, bigots, Islamophobes, etc.
Frankly, I don't know how anyone could get through college without being exposed to the idea of cultural relativism and multiculturalism. I was being exposed to it over 20 years ago in grad school at the University of Missouri and it was just getting started back then.
Of course none of my professors would be so crass as to teach that wife beating, etc. was OK, but when they teach that morality is all culturally relative (I even heard that in an Episcopal church one time!)--well, I'm just trying to show the logical outcome of such nonsense.
I'm a little confused. You are saying that all of these smart people in colleges are saying "all culture is morally relative" but you are the only one who has figured out that that means that if a culture believes in wife beating or slavery or rape or ethnic cleansing then we shouldn't condemn them? Are you sure you didn't just misunderstand what they were saying? Maybe you could provide a name of someone who has said such things or a link to some of their writings and then we could all see for ourselves how stupid they are. Since there seem to be so many people who believe this according to you, it shouldn't be too hard.
"The view that elements of a culture are to be understood and judged in terms of their relationship to the culture as a whole—a doctrine known as cultural relativism—led to the conclusion that the cultures themselves could not be evaluated or graded as higher and lower, superior or inferior. If it was unwarranted to say that patriliny (descent through the male line) was superior or inferior to matriliny (descent through the female line), if it was unjustified or meaningless to say that monogamy was better or worse than polygamy, then it was equally unsound or meaningless to say that one culture was higher or superior to another. A large number of anthropologists subscribed to this view; they argued that such judgments were subjective and therefore unscientific" (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).
I thought you said it was something everyone on the Left believes, but according to this article the only people who believe this are a handful of anthropologists. I guess those anthropologists are pretty powerful to get you so worked up.
Jon, I think your questions are fair. My question though is why is "wife beating or slavery or rape or ethnic cleansing" wrong? Why are people who participate in these things terrible? Are these things wrong because of some sort of universal principles of right and wrong, are they just distasteful to you, or is there some other reason why these activities are wrong?
You've got me stumped, Kevin. I was going to tell you they are wrong because the Bible says they are wrong, but when I went looking for verses to back that up, I discovered that the Bible actually approves of all of these things, at least when God says it's OK. Maybe they're wrong because my mother taught me they were wrong. Or maybe they're not wrong at all. Frankly, you've got me stumped. What do you think?
I think you're too smart to be so stupid...
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