This week, we needed to write an entry on a discussion board.  The topic to write about was this:  It has become de rigueur (meaning-necessary if you want to be popular or socially acceptable) to claim that all cultures and their values are equally valid or valuable.  We were asked to write what we think, are all cultures equal in terms of being right and wrong, good and bad, and also do we have the right to proclaim one set of values to be better than another?  The following is what I wrote.  If you have an opinion, please express it in the comments.

 

It has become popular or socially acceptable to claim that all cultures and their values are equally valid or valuable; however, are they? 

 

Some cultures (in history on up to today) have had some traditions and value systems in their culture that have not been peaceful or tolerant of others.  In the video, The moral case for the British Empire, it gave an example of a tradition of widow burning in India.  The British met with the leaders and  told them that they also had a practice and that was of hanging men who burned women alive and confiscating their goods.  So, if they continued their tradition of burning women, then they would follow their tradition of hanging.   The widow burning ceased.  It's not a matter of 2 wrongs make a right, more than the British stood up for something they felt was morally wrong.  Take Communism and Nazism, the British went in and the U.S. followed as a matter of moral principles, rights, freedom and decency.  

 

Do we as Americans and as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the moral courage to stand up for what we believe is right?  Do we have the right to proclaim that our values are better than another?  Yes we do!  Especially, if our rights and freedoms given to us by our loving Father in Heaven and our rights and freedoms as citizens of this nation are being infringed upon, altered or removed.  We must have a moral backbone and stand up here on earth for the doctrines and principles our Father in Heaven, through the scriptures and prophets have told us are correct.  Read the prophet's Proclamation to the World.  Listen to Elder Dallin H. Oak's talk this past general conference as he did not mince words on where we as latter-day-saints stand on modern moral issues.  Have we seen changes in our American culture?  Are we not still citizens with a voice?  The Constitution of the United States of America (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/) and Bill of Rights today serve similar roles, protecting the individual freedoms of all Americans against arbitrary (random choice, personal whim) and capricious (given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior) rule.

                   

              "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

 

Our own Constitution says that we should stand up when/if our government begins to make random, unaccountable changes.  As "we the people", we are told in the Constitution that we need to right any wrongs and abuses in our government or all will suffer.

 

In the late 1990's and many times since then, the State of Hawaii has tackled the issue of same sex marriage.  I have joined those who were sign wavers and supporters against it.  Many times we feel like we have to justify our actions and say how many gay people we have as friends and that we love them no matter what.  That's not the point.  Are we disciples of Christ?  Have we not been told to stand up for what we know is right?  Demonstrating is not against a person or persons, but a practice or ultimate change in our country that will have an affect on our religious freedoms and goes against our gospel doctrine.  "Who say ye that I am?"  I will first choose to be a part of the culture of Jesus Christ, then all else is secondary to it.