A red-spotted purple admiral butterfly sipping nectar from tiny pink flowers is objectively beautiful. Anyone who says it’s not speaks against the truth because God created both butterfly and flower to be beautiful. Together they deliver a double dose of gorgeous.
Mozart arranged objectively beautiful music. Maybe it’s not your style, sure, but to claim it’s not beautiful would make folks worry about you—because everyone knows it is.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” someone rebuts. To a certain degree, that is true, but that idiom is really about style and preference. We can still appreciate Thomas Kinkade and Beethoven, newborn babies and huskies, sunsets and rainbows because God created them with inherent beauty, and He created us to appreciate His work.
He also designed us to imitate His work. Humans have a built-in desire to create things which are quality and pleasing.
Objective Beauty across Cultures
Now apply this truth to the cultures around you. Some cultures are objectively better than others. Some cultures create more peace, more freedom, more opportunity. Other cultures create more hardship, more struggle, more oppression.
Today, cultural appropriation can send you to the naughty corner, but cultural appreciation can earn you woke brownie points. To appreciate another culture, they say, “You learn. You listen. You strive to understand. You seek to honor its beliefs and traditions.”[1] Reaching an almost religious fervor, you see people praising every other culture around themselves…while strangely condemning their own. It’s almost as if every non-western culture is awesome and important, while westernized cultures should be abolished and banned. Already they have conceded the argument—they don’t even believe all cultures are equal.
They are correct. Some cultures are objectively evil and corrupt. You can tell from their lack of production. You can tell from their oppressive government and by their people’s poverty level. You can tell from crime statistics, how they view violence, and how they deal with violence. You can tell from how they value or don’t value human life.
In a country as diverse as the United States, we have multiple cultures within our own borders, and some of our cultures are better than others. It’s not a skin color issue; it’s a cultural issue. It’s the way certain groups of people think, act, and interact.
If you compare westernized countries with eastern countries, what are the main differences? Westernized countries are built on Greco-Roman ideals when it comes to law and government. More than that, though, they are built on Judeo-Christian values and principles: Justice, Wisdom, Courage, and Moderation.[2] Undergirding those four “cardinal virtues” are three “theological virtues”: faith, hope, and love.[3] What societies are most free, most thriving, most peaceful, and most productive? They are societies which teach and practice those excellent virtues!
Virtues of Islam
Though many Muslims claim to highly value human life,[4] reality doesn’t seem to corroborate. I believe most Muslims do not have hate and murder in their hearts as they try to follow the five pillars of Islam, but all the largest terrorist groups in the world are Muslim,[5] fueled by a hatred for infidels (non-Muslims), Jews and Christians specifically.
If you compare western culture with eastern-Muslim culture, western culture is objectively better. What Islamic state is known for its freedom and excellent treatment of their people, especially their women and children? Why are millions fleeing Muslim territories and seeking homes in western countries? It’s either because they want to destroy the western way of life so they are infiltrating and attempting to create more Islamic states or because their way of life in the Muslim-led countries is too awful and oppressive and they want to escape. Either way, something is not right.
Preserving Christian Culture
A culture is built and preserved through blood and sweat. Unless our country maintains its western values, holding fast to its Christian roots and Judeo-Christian ethics, it will fall. It will cease to be strong, and either its people will rip it apart from the inside or it will fail to protect itself from invasion. Of course, we rely on God’s protection. But God gave us a faith which works and obeys. Our faith should motivate us to work hard to protect what He has given us. We should be working hard to shape our kids’ worldviews, saturate them with the stories of men and women who built our culture (which includes a strong Biblical foundation), and explain to them that we do not need to honor all cultures. We honor all men because we are all created in the image of God, but we do not honor all value systems. God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes (Eccl. 7.29).
Countries and states patterned after God’s values grant the greatest opportunities for life and freedom to their people. Christians should work to establish laws which follow the Lord’s heart, and we should fight against laws which conflict with God’s. For example, laws which define homosexual coupling as “marriage” are atrocious—because God has clearly defined marriage, and what God has established let no man tear down.
Continue cultivating (see the word “culture” in there?) justice, wisdom, courage, and moderation in your own life, and teach them to your family. And now abide these three: faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these is love.
[1] https://preemptivelove.org/blog/what-is-cultural-appreciation/
[2] https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/justice-wisdom-courage-and-moderation-the-four-cardinal-virtues.html
[3] https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/scripture-and-tradition/catholic-basics/catholic-beliefs-and-practices/theological-and-cardinal-virtues/
[4] https://islam.ru/en/content/story/sanctity-and-value-life