My prof on child sacrifice: "Who are you to judge?"

[condan]

BlindSheep:

I’m returning to college this fall, after an 8 year absence. Today in my “Bible, Mythology, & Folklore” honors class, the topic of Aztec human sacrifice came up. It was being discussed as if it only involved voluntary, adult sacrifice; this bothered me, and I mentioned having heard about the bodies of children that had been sacrificed also having been found. The consensus of the class, including the professor, was that since child sacrifice was part of the culture, we shouldn’t call it immoral; in his words, “who are we to judge their culture?”. He than said that, “just to upset [me]”, we would watch a video of a human sacrifice (from Africa, I believe) made before “western culture imposed its morality on these people”.
Incidentally, one of my classmates called me a bitch after class, and the prof. told me to be “more objective”. I have a feeling this won’t be a fun semester.

Here’s a tip: A class that lumps the Bible with mythology and folklore is bound to be a bummer.

 

[condan]

BlindSheep:

Incidentally, one of my classmates called me a bitch after class, …

Ah, nothing like tolerance and diversity in higher education.

 

[Scott_Waddell]

Grace and Glory:

Well, if you can’t judge other cultures for doing “wrong” things, as long as what they do is consistent with their own moral code, than your professor doesn’t have any right to say it’s wrong that “western culture imposed its morality on these people”.

He can’t even say that Europeans coming in and “imposing their culture” on the Aztecs (or even enslaving them) was wrong, because the Europeans’ culture supported their conquest.
So really, his argument is self-defeating.

(I’m writing a paper right now for an ethics class at a secular university on whether moral relativism promotes tolerance. My answer is no.)

Right on. In fact, you could go on to say that the embrace of diversity is actually an assertion of the superiority of the West. No matter how they slice it, the bottom line is that to them a culture that embraces multiculturalism is better than one that doesn’t (otherwise why bother with it?). Well guess what? The only culture with any interest in such a view is western culture. Ergo, by their own argument, the West is best.

Scott

 

[m134e5]

BlindSheep:

The consensus of the class, including the professor, was that since child sacrifice was part of the culture, we shouldn’t call it immoral; in his words, “who are we to judge their culture?”.

“Who are we to judge their culture?” That’s an easy one- we’re rational beings who know right from wrong- at least some of us are. We have every right to distinguish what is right and wrong in any culture. Who are they to adopt into their culture the ritualistic destruction of an innocent life?

 

[Genesis315]

Isn’t he judging our culture as wrong for holding that it’s just fine to judge human sacrifice as wrong?

 

[Genesis315]

It was Nazi culture to slaughter Jews. Who are we to judge? We should not have imposed our US morality on them.

It was Southern US culture to enslave black people? Who are we to judge. The North should not have imposed their morality on them.

Absurdity is fun.

Let’s show some Holocaust images to Jews to upset them while we’re at it. How about some lynchings too?

This professor should be fired.

 

[Shadowcry]

He shouldnt be fired but rather told that his opinion is misguided and the facts should be presented that our reasoning and morality has evolved from what was acceptable in that day. Then perhaps he will think that his opinions are not to presented as facts in the classroom.

 

[mamabear7]

BlindSheep,
Please get some green scapulars and/or Miraculous Medals, have a priest bless them, and hand them out to all your liberal profs as gifts (maybe for Halloween or Christmas). These people really need them. Those two sacramentals have miraculously aided in the conversions to the Church outside of wshich there is no salvation. You would be doing them a huge favor! After they convert, they shouldn’t have those views anymore, so it’s good for their students, too. If you have any questions or don’t know where to get scapulars and/or medals, feel free to email me. Your liberal classmates could use them too!

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne