Macro-cultures (ethnicities, nations, societies, global institutions) seek to clarify for its members and nonmembers all that are considered to be ‘cultural evils.’ The ‘Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics’ provides us a list to consider. Here are some examples of cultural evils:
American Indian: ‘vice, crime, pollution, and even misfortune’
Babylonian: ‘an unconscious violation of the ceremonial regulations’
Buddhist: ‘folly, as a result of ignorance’
Celtic: ‘gods being offended by neglect’
Chinese (Confucius): ‘theft, perverseness, vindictiveness, vacillating weakness, being unfilial’
Christian: ‘The explicit or implicit claim to live independently of God, to put something else, be it the world or self, in His place.’
Egyptian: ‘murder, robbery, oppression, impiety towards the gods and the dead, disrespect for the aged and for parents, selfishness’
Greek: ‘all conduct which by omission or by commission, in overt act or inner meaning, is offensive to the supra-human Powers’
Hebrew: ‘the performance or neglect of certain external acts’
Iranian: ‘a refusal, on the part of the free choice of the human will, to conform to the divine will’
Japanese (Shinto): ‘breaking down the divisions of the rice-fields, killing the birds, performing witchcraft’
Muslim: ‘pride and opposition to Allah, ascribing partners to Allah, murder, theft, adultery, neglect of the Ramadan fast and of the Friday prayers, gambling, drunkenness, perjury, disobedience to parents, usury’
Roman: ‘enmity with superhuman forces’
Teutonic: ‘blasphemy, perjury, adultery’
It seems that the cultural definitions of evil are rooted in lived experience, in how the culture perceives the world, in integrated core values, and in the belief of ‘higher powers’ operating in their world. For example, in the United States, we stress the freedom and the rights of the individual (versus the community); in other cultures this concept of the ‘individual’ is meaningless. Even within our culture (i.e. the United States) there are significant differences: some folks believe that their destiny is controlled by external forces (e.g. predestination) while others believe that they are ‘masters of their own fate.’ Where does the ‘locus of control’ lie? Some in our culture view life as a struggle, or that life is ‘war’ and they live lives rooted in reaction; others view life as a journey or an adventure or a spiritual quest and they live lives rooted in unconditional response-ability.
Given the variety of what constitutes ‘evil’ in a culture it is no wonder that there is frequent misunderstanding, if not conflict, between and among macro-cultures (to say nothing of organizational cultures, sub-cultures and micro-cultures – when these are thrown into the mix then things become even more interesting).
Given all of this, it seems to me that one of my major challenges is to seek to understand and in coming to understand to acknowledge that, given their understanding of ‘evil,’ macro-cultures behave quite consistently. Moreover, if I am going to ‘live’ either ‘in their culture’ or if I am going to ‘live’ side-by-side with them (as members of the global community) then it is crucial for me to be at minimum ‘tolerant’ of them (given their cultural definitions of ‘evil’ this may or may not be a ‘stretch’ for me or for us).
Searcher-Seeker 