Response to "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism"

 In the novel that we recently read in class, Things Fall Apart, missionaries are attempting to take over and reform a villages customs.  The village has certain customs that involve throwing twin babies into the woods.  The missionaries thought this custom was extremely barbaric but for okonkwo's village it is seen as normal.  This all has to do with how someone grew up and what they see as being normal.  For instance, in the passage, The Challenge of Cultural a Relativism, Callatians ate the bodies of their dead fathers  and the Greeks practiced cremation.  The Greeks were asked how they felt about eating the bodies of their dead fathers and th Callatians were asked how they felt about burning their fathers bodies.  Both groups thought the other practice was horrific.  What do the missionaries, villagers, Callatians and Greeks all have in common? Cultural relativism. What was accepted as a normal practice in the village and the Callatians community is considered right and normal in their societies but for the missionaries and the Greeks it is seen barbaric. There are also some cultures that women are above men or men are above women.  In my opinion, I think in theory it would be great to be able to accept other culture's customs an beliefs, but when someone grows up believing one thing and their parents push it on them, it's going to be hard to accept something that another's culture believes.  For example, I grew up in a Christian house hold, celebrating all the Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas, and attending church almost every Sunday.  For me, it is odd to think that some families do not go to church on a regular basis, or even believe in God.  It is even weirder for me to think that their are religions out there that are basically the complete opposite of Christianity.  People would like to say that they could easily accept other cultures practices, but at least for me it is really hard to picture something that I didn't grow up believing.  So basically, I do not believe it is possible for other cultures to understand another cultures customs.