Welcome to a bright point, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Recently, during an interview with the BBC, UK Conservative Party candidate Kimmy Bodnock stated bluntly, quote,

We cannot assume that all cultures are equally valid.

She then routed off examples of cultures that had

embraced practices like child marriage and misogyny before concluding, and I quote,

I actually think it's extraordinary that people think that's an unusual, controversial thing to say.

Of course, not all cultures are equally valid. I don't believe in cultural relativism. I believe

in Western values, the

principles that have made this country great. And I think we need to make sure that we continue

to abide by those principles, end quote. Now, of course, a moral proclamation like that would also

spark outrage here in the U.S. But patriotism in the U.K. is even more of a four-letter word there.

Cultural relativism might be the only assumed absolute remaining among the enlightened, except when it comes, of course, to critiques of the

West. As Douglas Murray pointed out in his book, The War on the West, it is only the Western

world that's morally wrong and guilty of oppression, no matter the facts. And what are the facts?

Well, non-Western societies have their own long list of discrimination, of slavery, of the

mistreatment of women, children, and minorities, and the West history cannot be simply reduced to,

quote-unquote, white supremacy, as many have claimed. After all, it was the British who burned

widow burning in 19th century India, and it's difficult to put Chinese footbinding or contemporary

Islamic honor killing on the same level as, say, eliminating so-called abortion rights for women in the

West. No outside of the pharisaic ivory towers, sharing modern medical

or irrigation technologies with impoverished cultures around the world is not considered a form of

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