The Development And Importance Of Worldviews And Moral Culture

Culture is the Backbone of a society, when something/someone tries to alter it or go against it everyone will notice. In this issue pointed out by Ruth Macklin, we look at the problems that can arise when an individual’s culture and autonomy clash. Every year there at least 30 million immigrants from all over the world that move to the United states of America, making America one of the most culturally diverse country in the world. Keeping this in mind, we will focus on Ruth Macklin’s issue of Multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviors, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles. Critics argue that we associate culture with a society, community and or family, but rarely with a single individual, thus placing it above the individual person. In this paper we are going to look at four different scenarios on from Ruth Macklin’s article.

In Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World, John (referred to as “the savage”) is the voice of freedom in a society ruled by an inexorable pursuit of superficial happiness. In the dystopian setting, the world controllers maintain public satisfaction “but at a very high price—the sacrifice of freedom, individuality, truth, beauty, a sense of purpose, and the concept of God” (Neilson). John’s unorthodox beliefs about monogamy, God, drugs, and freedom clash with that of the overwhelming majority of people in the totalitarian London utopia. This barrier is rooted in John’s natural moral development as opposed to the artificial conditioning of the rest of society and it leads to John’s complete isolation from the people of London.

Throughout this class we have discussed the different worldviews that an individual may have. This class has taught me that a worldview is how an individual understands the world and their place in it. “A worldview consist of what a person believes to be real and true, what a person values, how a person makes decisions, and what forms a person’s desires, longings, and goals” (Fuller, Lecture One). An individual’s worldview is the motivating force behind their every emotion, decision, and action. A worldview is what helps an individual make sense of life and this world. A worldview will provide answers for many different questions in life. A few of the questions that a worldview helps answer are questions of origin, human dilemma, hope, and destiny.

“A Worldviews give faith-based answers to a set of ultimate and ground- ing questions. Everyone operates on the basis of some worldview or faith-based understanding of the universe and persons— examined, or unexamined, implicit or explicit, simplistic or sophisticated. One way or

I was raised in a Christian home where my parents taught God’s Word as our guide for life. Every single evening, we all prayed together as a family, usually standing in a circle with all six of us holding hands. It was usually brief, but it was not taken lightly, and it gave me a strong sense of security in God and family. The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”, Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV). My parents firmly believe this, and they showed it, as not only did we pray together, but we also had family Bible studies and attended church together. My parents also gave us a good sense of high moral standards. I remember, when trying to figure out how much I should do for a “needy” friend of mine, my mother reminding me that we were called to be servants, but not slaves! I have remembered that ever since and now, finally, I have learned to say no to other’s expectations of me when I feel it necessary, without feeling too badly about it.

From what I know, Planet Earth consists of seven continents. Collectively, those seven continents are home to approximately seven billion humans. And each human has their own unique worldview. Defined as, the bias or presumption a person holds as a result of the environment, culture, or faith they live in, worldview influences how everyone responds to life’s pertinent questions. (A Christian Worldview?) Throughout this paper, I intend to give a description of my own worldview, answering what I believe about God, creation, humankind, epistemology, and ethics. Whilst comparing my worldview to that of O. Henry's illustrated in the short story "The Ransom of Red Chief".

Cultural Relativism is an important ethical theory and James Rachels’ argument is significant to provide evidence to prove and disprove the idea. It is important to call attention to and understand differences between cultures. Tolerance is also an valid concept when arguing Cultural Relativism. Regardless of the outcome or viewpoint of the argument it is significant in the fact that it raises awareness for tolerance and differences between cultures and that no culture is more superior or more correct in relation to another. The theory of Cultural Relativism is the idea that each and every culture has it’s own moral code, and if this is true, there is no universal, ethical truth that every culture must abide by. A universal truth being one that is true in all situations, at all times, and in all places. It proposes that a person’s actions should be understood and judged only by those within the terms of their culture. It is an idea of tolerance and open mindedness to cultures who are not our own. In the article, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachels discusses important themes and arguments in concurrence with his own argument against Cultural Relativism. I will argue that Cultural Relativism is challenged by James Rachels argument but not disproved.

Due to the "highly subjective nature of most scientific theorizing... [we should] let the Bible speak for itself and modify our scientific view of origins accordingly." (as cited in Downey, D., & Porter, S., 2009).

What is a worldview? How does it influence our daily lives? A worldview is how we see reality. It influences the way we live our lives. It influences the way we interact with each other. A worldview is a belief system of who we are, why we are here, and what our destiny is.

Moral Relativism is generally used to describe the differences among various cultures that influence their morality and ethics. According to James Rachels, because of moral relativism there typically is no right and wrong and briefly states : “Different cultures have different moral codes.” (Rachels, 18) Various cultures perceive right and wrong differently. What is considered right in one society could be considered wrong in another, but altogether all cultures have some values in common.

Over the years my worldview has evolved from as a by product of cultural influence, to one steeped in my belief of God. However, until I got married 4 years ago, I had never actively worked on developing my Christian theistic worldview. Brown, Phillips and Stonestreet (2008) described a persons’ worldview as the framework that guides our beliefs and viewpoints (p. 21). With this in mind, I have established 3 main tenants of my worldview, God is, the universe was and morality will be. These are the foundations for the way I live, move and express my being in this world.

“Our views and behavior depend to some degree on our social location in society—our gender, race, social class, religion, and so forth.”(Barkan, 2013). As I have grown up and my perspective of the world has broadened I have realized how narrow my views were. I grew up in Germany, Italy, and Hungary before moving to the USA, but because I was so sheltered I really didn’t know what was really happening in society. As I grew older I have come to realize the socialization process did help me develop my values, beliefs, morals, my religious outlook, my political affiliations and what not.

Culture is a way of life. It can be defined as a group of people linked by geographical location, ethnicity, gender or age. Culture can be reflected through language, clothing, food, behavior, spirituality and traditions. The behavioral patterns developed through culture are difficult to change.

I grew up in a Catholic home. From my earliest memories, I believed in God and knew He existed. Every week we faithfully attended our local parish. There was no Sunday School so we sat with our parents during mass. I remember my youngest sister, Jennifer, playing with my Dad’s keys

Growing up I always lived in a religious household. We always prayed before we ate, prayed before we went to bed, and always went to church on Sunday and Wednesday night. While I never questioned these actions and never tried to rebel against them, I still didn’t understand the importance of them either. I was merely walking in my parents footsteps, doing what my parents told me, singing along to the children’s songs in Sunday school, gave a tithing of my allowance every Sunday, but my life was void of the real meanings of my actions. This went on for years. Because I had not yet read through the Bible to understand why these actions had any meaning, they were just things I did all the time and I thought that was normal and that was what it meant to be a Christian.