lpetrich

I don't think we should romanticize "primitive" peoples and their cultures; they often have practices that are best left behind. But total cultural destruction is not the way to do it, at least if it can reasonably be avoided; one ought to show some critical sense.

EDIT:

An example would be belief in the efficacy of malicious sorcery, and notions like all sickness and death being caused by malicious sorcery. That has been very common with Africa, often coexisting with "rational" hypotheses like granary collapses and angered elephants. It is a curious coexistence: hunting elephants is known to be dangerous, yet being killed by an angered elephant is caused by someone placing a hex on you.

I've seen the theory that the witch-smelling rituals for determining the hexer are a convenient means of social control; troublesome individuals can easily be fingered as hexers and exiled.

Accommodating other cultures and practices is all well and good, and that can produce some nice variety. But there are limits; what does one do about Muslim fundamentalism? As Ibn Warraq has noted, Islam is rather culturally imperialist.

Different cultures also have different amounts of tolerance for innovation and advance. For example, the physicist Abdus Salam was an Ahmadiyya Muslim; his sect believes in progressive revelation, in which there is no final prophet. Thus, doing science could be viewed as part of this progressive revelation. However, most other Muslims consider the Ahmadiyya sect heretical, and some Muslims are very firm that there have been no revelatioins since Mohammed. Which is an attitude that is not very helpful for learning anything new.

Heathen Dawn

That’s the reason why I don’t identify with Reconstructionist Paganism. And to be fair, even they make it clear that they’re not into reconstruction of problematic aspects of Greek, Roman etc societies.

Magus55

And yet how is that not just as arrogant by teaching that science and humanity are the only hope left in the world, since as you put it, they can't prove it? And is that not also destroying their culture and mythology? You are taking a tribal village, and trying to industrialize them through science. It is the exact same thing you are whining about Christians doing, except instead of us teaching about God, you teach about science. Either way, it destroys their culture.

reprise

I don't think it's so much a case of romanticising primitive cultures as asking why in the hell we feel compelled to interfere with them in the first place and why we persist in continuing to do so even when they've demonstrated that our interference is unwelcome. What I found interesting in the linked to article was that there was little mention of what the missionaries could have learned from the community. What made their community free of the "social ills" which are common in our own culture (and the answer might well be extremely brutal punishments for transgressing the community standard of behaviour)?

Mageth

So, are you arguing that the missionaries should have left their culture alone?

reprise

I agree with Magus on this one. The cultural destruction doesn't come about as a result of the beliefs of those people doing the interfering, it comes about as the result of outsiders trying to "fix" something which isn't "broken" because they think their way is "better".

Magus55

Not necessarily. I'm just stating that its stupid to complain at Christians doing it, when atheists being over their would accomplish the same thing that you are complaining about - destroying their culture and mythology. In fact, introducing atheists there, who teach science and living without God could be more harmful because tribal people probably already have some conception of a divine being. Christians just taught them who they believe God is. Atheists would completely destroy any previous religious inclinations they may have had.

Onager

For one thing, the OP doesn't appear to propose meddling with people in any way.

Another, you can teach science without even bringing up religion, much less refuting it. However, you cannot teach Xianity without suppressing scientific facts.

Ellis14

Urm, scientists can prove their theories, Magus.
You are attacking a non-existence state of affairs, Magus. Atheists are not the ones heading off to deconvert people.

Ellis14

Maybe, maybe not. The fact that atheists are not, and never have, set out to impose their lack of belief in God on others is a strong sign that we'll never know!