Citizen Columns
Question
Should an outsider intervene if he witnesses something from another culture that he believes is wrong?
Answer
It’s best when members of the other culture intervene themselves, but failing that, yes, outsiders should act. For example, the new government guide for immigrants, Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship says multiculturalism is “a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage and identity. Canadians celebrate the gift of one another’s presence and work hard to respect pluralism and live in harmony.” But in a section on “The Equality of Women and Men” it also says that “Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, “honour killings,” female genital mutilation, or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws.” Yet the guide
also speaks of “freedom of conscience and religion” as a fundamental right. What happens when cultural practices Canada regards as “barbaric” are based on sincerely held religious beliefs? Does Canada’s culture trump what someone thinks is divine revelation? Internationally, this is precisely why some religious believers cannot accept the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. God’s command, they believe, must take precedence over all earthly agreements about right and wrong.
When outsiders intervene they also need to be aware that religion and culture can be misinterpreted and misused as a way to cloak abhorrent practices. For example, Slobodan Milosevic used Serbian nationalism and religion as part of his ethnic cleansing policy, claiming to be a champion of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The late Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, to his great credit, openly opposed Milosevic, and repeatedly denounced this twisted betrayal. We should be careful about blackening an entire culture or religion.
We also need cultural humility. Are we so sure that some of our own accepted cultural practices—abortion comes to mind—might not be labeled barbaric by others? And how can we be so sure that we are right?
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