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Continue your education. Open your brainwashed minds. Religious wars will
never cease. Wonder if the last of the Zulu's are wondering about 666...
>From the beginning of mankind humans have searched for the reasons for their
existence. Almost every civilization, in one form or another, has looked
towards the heavens for that supreme being who is our creator, or God. Most
cultures follow some form of Divine Command Theory, where the reasons for
actions that are right are right because God commands it, and the reasons for
actions that are wrong are wrong because God forbids them. Worship is
bestowed upon the God that has created what is morality, and the religious
doctrine of defined morals for that particular culture is practiced. Each
culture has its own distinct set of rituals and worship that are designed to
gain favor with their God. Anthropologist Ruth Benedict wrote that "morality
differs in every society, and is a convenient term for socially approved
habits [and] the concept of good...is that which society has approved"
(Barcalow, p. 39). The fact that there is great diversity in the religious
beliefs of cultures great and small, and the fact that a person cannot choose
where or when he or she is born, demonstrates that a person's religion and
moral attitude is culturally relative.
The three most common religions in the Western World today are Islam,
Christianity, and Judaism. One needs only to look at the demographics of the
regions, or cultures, to see why the majority of the human race base their
religious beliefs on and derive their moral values from these three religions.
Islam is a major world religion founded in Arabia and based on the teachings
of Muhammad, who is called the Prophet. The Arabic word Islam literally means
"to surrender," but as a godly term in the Koran, it means "to surrender to
the will or law of God." One who practices Islam is a Muslim. Although exact
statistics are not available, the Muslim world population is estimated at more
than 935 million. Islam has blossomed in very diverse climatic, cultural, and
ethnic regions.
"The major ethnic groups composing the world community of Islam include the
Arabs (North Africa and the Middle East); Turks and Turkic peoples (Turkey,
parts of the former USSR, and Central Asia); Iranians; Afghans; the Indo-
Muslims (Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh); Southeast Asians (Malaysia,
Indonesia, and the Philippines); and a small percentage of Chinese. In
Europe, Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity" (Rahman,
1995).
The Koran forbids lying, stealing, and murder. It also allows slavery under
certain conditions, but urges that slaves be freed, and permits a man to have
up to four wives. It condemns mistrust, and cruelty. A person born into one
of these regions or Islamic cultures has a greater likelihood of following
Islam as a religion, and as a result worship the Profit Muhammad, than a
person born into a traditional American family.
Christianity is the most widely dispersed of the world religions, having
substantial representation in all the populated continents of the globe. "Its
total membership may exceed 1.7 billion people" (Pelikan,1995). The migration
of many Europeans to North America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
brought with it a strong Christian ethic and thus, through the centuries, most
Americans have been brought up in a Christian household with Christian morals.
The same can be said for the Latin American and South American inhabitants
whose religious beliefs were changed by missionaries. A community, a way of
life, a system of belief, a ceremonial celebration, a tradition--Christianity
is all of these, and more. One fundamental element of this religion is the
centrality of the person of Jesus Christ. That centrality is, in one way or
another, a feature of all the historical kinds of Christian belief and
practice. Christians have not agreed in their understanding and definition of
what makes Christ distinctive or unique. Certainly they would all affirm that
his life and example should be followed and that his teachings about love and
fellowship should be the basis of human relations. In Christian teaching,
Jesus cannot be less than the supreme preacher and instructor of the moral
life, but for most Christians that, by itself, does not do full justice to the
significance of his life and work. Christians teach that God is almighty in
command over all that is in heaven and on earth, righteous in judgment over
good and evil, beyond time and space and change; but above all they teach that
"God is love." The creation of the world out of nothing and the creation of
the human race were expressions of that love, and so was the coming of Christ.
The classic statement of this trust in the love of God came in the words of
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither
sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew, 6:26) Christ is worshipped as
the "savior", the Son of God. Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection made the
cross the chief focus of Christian faith and devotion, and the cross is the
leading symbol of the saving love of God the Father. The believer can secure
everlasting life through acceptance of Jesus Christ as his savior. Formal
worship occurs in the church through song and prayer, and the Holy Bible sets
the moral code. Broken down, many American subcultures hold to certain
Christian denominational faiths. These include Irish Catholics, Italian
Catholics, and Amish, among others. Chances are great that if you are born
into a Catholic family you will become Catholic and follow the rituals, and
conform to the morals, of Catholicism. Likewise, if you are born into an
Amish family you will most likely conform to the Amish faith.
Judaism, the religious culture of the Jews, is one of the world's oldest
continuing religious traditions. Judaism originated in the land of Israel,
also known as Palestine, in the Middle East. Subsequently, Jewish communities
have existed at one time or another in almost all parts of the world, a result
of both voluntary migrations of Jews and forced exile or expulsions.
"In the late 1980s the total world Jewish population was some 13 million, of
whom about 5.7 million lived in the U.S., more than 3.6 million in Israel,
and more than 1.4 million in the Soviet Union, the three largest centers of
Jewish settlement. About 1.2 million Jews lived in the rest of Europe, most
of them in France and Great Britain. About 310,000 lived in the rest of North
America, and 33,000 in the rest of Asia. Nearly 440,000 Jews lived in
Central and South America, and about 142,000 in Africa" (Sarason,1995).
The most essential element of the Jewish faith is the belief that a single,
supreme God created the universe and continues happily to run it. Supporting
this monotheism is the teleological position that the world is both
understandable and with purpose, because a single divine God stands behind it.
Nothing that humanity experiences is random; everything ultimately has a
meaning. The mind of God is manifest to the traditional Jew in both the
natural orders, through creation, and the social-historical order, through
revelation. The same God who created the world revealed himself to the
Israelites at Mount Sinai. By living in accordance with God's laws and
submitting to the divine will, humanity can become a harmonious part of the
universe. As a sign of devotion to God, the observant adult male Jew during
weekday morning prayers wears both a fringed prayer shawl and phylactery
(prayer box). Both customs are derived from the scriptural passages that are
recited as the Shema. A third custom involves the placing of a mezuzah on the
doorpost of one's house, a further reminder that God is everywhere. As a
gesture of respect to God, the head is covered during prayer, either with a
hat or a skullcap (yarmulke). Pious Jews wear a head covering at all times,
recognizing God's constant presence. The ethical code is derived from the Old
Testament of the Bible, which determines what is permitted and what is
forbidden. Belonging to the Jewish faith, like belonging to any of the other
religions discussed thus far, certainly can be construed to be culturally
relative. Being born into a Jewish family in Israel certainly enhances the
chances of growing up Jewish and worshipping accordingly, so fate certainly
plays a great part in deciding what religion and ethical code one chooses.
One must go further beyond the three major religions, however, and examine
the lesser known "primitive cultures" in order to determine the truthfulness
of the statement that a person's religion and moral attitude is culturally
relative. Anthropologists have done extensive studies on the lesser known
cultures that prove to be quite eye opening. By discipline, the
anthropologist does not take an ethnocentric point of view when reporting on
the "hidden cultures". Rather, he or she describes and records the facts as
the participants in the culture live out their lives. Many lost cultures
still abound in Africa. About three-quarters of Uganda's inhabitants are
Christian, and approximately fifteen percent are Muslim. The rest follow
traditional faiths and are mainly composed of the people of Bunyoro, located
east of Lake Albert in present Uganda. It was founded in the 15th century by
invaders from the North, mostly cattle breeders who established their
dominance over the native Bantu farming population. In a study done on the
Bunyoro society between 1951 and 1955, anthropologist John Beattie described
the religion of the people as both mystical and with a moral purpose. In the
conditions of most simple societies everyone has frequent and direct
experience with illness and death, but there is still little or no
understanding in their world of the physical causes of these maladies. Faced
with sickness or death, a Westerner may know the reality of the situation and
be inclined to just hope for the best. However, for members of the Bunyoro
culture there is much that he can do; "[His] culture provides ways of dealing
with such situations which are socially and psychologically, if not
clinically, satisfying. Thus Nyoro, like other people, have beliefs in what
we would call supernatural agents, and it is believed that these may be
propitiated by sacrifice and prayer, or made use of by certain magical
beliefs" (Beattie, p. 70). The Nyoro villagers are believers in sorcery, and
this serves as a discouragement for certain kinds of socially disapproved
behavior. These sorcery beliefs are still widespread in Bunyoro, and
"anachronistic though they are in 'modern' African society into which Bunyoro
is slowly developing, there is no doubt that they are still effective
sanctions for conformity to approved norms" (Beattie, p. 75). Nyoro's are
also believers in ghosts and spirits, who are categorized and worshipped in
different ways. When a ghostly affliction is diagnosed, two courses of action
can be taken. If the ghost is thought to be an important one, such as a near
relative, it must be induced to "possess" the victim or someone representing
him. This is done by the construction of a small spirit hut or shrine, and
the sacrifice of a goat. Ghost shrines are small replicas of huts, usually
about eighteen inches high, and the skull and other bones of the sacrificed
animal are placed in it. If the ghost is thought to be an unimportant one,
that of a slave or distant relative, it may be "caught" and destroyed by a
practitioner, or rabbi, skilled in those matters. Spirits are by tradition
associated with particular features in nature, such as thunder, rain, and so
on. There are said to be nineteen different Nyoro spirits, and in the
traditional cult "...each one of the various localized agnatic groups into
which Bunyoro is said to have been divided stood in a special relationship to
one or other of these powers. Every such group had its initiated shaman or
medium, and on ceremonial occasions this medium would become possessed by the
Chwezi spirit associated with his or her group" (Beattie, pp.77&78). These
group possession ceremonies were times of great feasting and rejoicing through
song and dance in order to please their Holy Spirit. Obviously, if a person
is born a Nyoro villager, he or she would be most likely to carry on the
rituals of the Bunyoro rather than conform to the scriptures of the Koran or
the Holy Bible.
Another example can be found in the African Republic of Congo. "In 1992, the
United Nations estimated the population of the Congo at 2,400,000. Roman
Catholics make up about 55 percent of the population, Protestants about 25
percent, and followers of tribal and other traditional religions about 20
percent. Fewer than 1 percent are Muslims" (Gailey,1995). Included in this
population are the African Pygmies. The most numerous Pygmy population,
estimated at 150,000 to 300,000 currently, are believed to have lived in the
Congo Valley before the arrival of other inhabits. Deep in the Congo, in what
is known as the Ituri forest, live a tribe of BaMbuti Pygmies that
anthropologist Colin Turnbull had occasion to study from 1956 through 1958.
Their culture and religious practices are something much different than what
can be found in the "civilized" cultures of the world, and being born a Pygmy
in the Ituri forest certainly would influence the way one would view and
worship God. The BaMbuti's existence centers on their intense love for their
forest world which, in return for their affection and trust, provides their
every need. They hold to many rituals and ancient ceremonies, and they praise
and worship the forest as provider, protector, and deity through the "molimo
ceremony". The people of the forest wanted to be quite sure that the
corrupted and unknowing village world was shut out during the sacred ceremony,
thus they blocked the village path with a combination of logs and mud. The
physical molimo is a trumpet and not considered a sacred object in itself.
What was most meaningful was the sound that it created, and that their
subsequent behavior pleased the God of the forest. Turnbull describes the
first night of the sacred molimo observance as follows:
"That first night, after I had eaten my meal, I went over to the molimo
fire... where the men were gathering. I noticed that Amabosu, the singer,
was not there. I knew why when, a few minutes after the singing had begun,
I heard the voice of the molimo answering, way off by itself in the
forest... It was the sound that mattered. As the men sang in the camp, the
voice of the molimo echoed their song, moving about continually so that it
seemed to be everywhere at once. During a lull in the singing it began
giving animal growls, and the men looked around to make sure that all the
women were safely in their huts. Almost immediately Amaboso and Madyadya
came running into the camp from the far end... picking their feet so high in
the air so that more than ever they seemed to be floating above the ground
they trod. They came right up to the fire and squatted down either side of
it, the front of the trumpet still held on Madyadya's shoulder as Amabosu
warbled safely into the other end. I noticed that the trumpet was still
wet; it had been given a "drink" just before entering camp... Madyadya took
the end of the trumpet in his hands and waved it up and down, passing it
through the flames of the molimo fire and over the heads of all of us
sitting there. Some even put live coals in at the far end. As Amabosu sang
harder and louder, sparks flew out over Madyadya's shoulder. Then the two
of them went dancing off, around the camp once and into the forest. There
were a few more defiant bellows from the direction of the river, and no
more was heard. The men stopped singing and prepared to eat" (Turnbull,
pp. 81 & 82).
Turnbull was told that, as part of the molimbo ceremony, everyone had to eat,
just as no adult male was allowed to sleep but had to sing while the molimo
was singing. One of the greatest crimes that a Pygmy can commit, if not the
greatest, is to be found asleep when the molimo is singing. The penalty for
this disobedience was said to be death, but this is doubtful, as the BaMbuti
people were not bloodthirsty animals as popular Pygmy myth might lead one to
believe. Nevertheless, this perception commanded inforcment the moral code.
Otherwise, the Pygmies seemed bound by few set rules. There was a general
pattern of behavior to which everyone more or less conformed, but with great
latitude given and taken. However, during the molimo, obedience was essential
as the BaMbuti praised the Holy God of the forest who would bring them good
fortune and was surely omnipitant.
It is a fact that religions have come and gone through history. Beginning
with the earliest known inscriptions by prehistoric peoples, moving through
the Egyptian Mythology of two thousand years before Christ, and continuing on
through the embodiment of today's major religions, most humans have found that
they have a need to understand the Creator of what is good and right, and
conform morally and worship according to the religious customs of their
culture. Most people in today's world have, through little or no choice of
their own, adopted the religion that their particular family or culture
conforms to. This can be demonstrated to be true for a wide variety of
religious or cultural settings. It is no doubt a convincing argument that the
person born in Ireland to Catholic parents, the person born in Israel to
Jewish parents, the BaMbuti pygmy child born in the Ituri forest, the child
born into a Bunyoro bushman tribe, and the offspring born into an Iranian
Islamic family will most likely adopt that culture's morality. Beyond the
scope of this, but worth mention, are the numerous other cultures of the past
and present, including the Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru, the Native
Americans, and the Yanomamo villagers along the Amazon Basin. They each had,
or still have, their own way of worshipping their God in a way that complies
with the norms or their civilization. If fact, the Aztecs went as far as
offering humans for sacrifice to their Sun God, and afterwards indulged in the
slaughter in a cannibalistic way that was perfectly acceptable in their
religion and way of life. Thus, the fact that humans do not have the capacity
to choose the family or culture that they are born into, accompanied with the
fact that humans tend to adapt to the religious beliefs that their particular
family or culture practices at that particular time, lends credence to the
thesis that a persons religion and morals tend to be culturally relative.
REFERENCE LIST
Barcalow, E. Moral Philosophy: Theory and Issues. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Publishing Co., 1994.
Beattie, J. Bunyoro: An African Kingdom. Stanford University: Holt,
Rinehart, and Winston, Inc., 1960.
Gailey, H.A. Congo, Republic of [CD-ROM]. Microsoft Encarta '95. Redmond,
WA: Microsoft Multimedia Corp., 1995.
Holy Bible New International Version. Grand Rapids: The Zondervan Corp.,
1989.
Pelikan, J. Christianity [CD-ROM]. Microsoft Encarta '95. Redmond, WA:
Microsoft Multimedia Corp., 1995.
Rahman, F. Islam [CD-ROM]. Microsoft Encarta '95. Redmond, WA: Microsoft
Multimedia Corp., 1995.
Sarason, R.S. Judaism [CD-ROM]. Microsoft Encarta '95. Redmond, WA:
Microsoft Multimedia Corp., 1995.
Turnbull, C.M. The Forest People. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1961.
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