There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
In 1961, Pope John XXIII issued Mater et Magistra (On Christianity and Social Progress), stating the church must concern “herself too with the exigencies of man’s daily life, with his livelihood and education, and his general, temporal welfare and prosperity”. This is a complex commission because everyone does not want or need the same kind of support to live a better daily life.
To understand how to support those who come from a different race, culture, or gender, we must appreciate their history, their perspective, beliefs, ideas and learn about them on a societal level. At my hospital, for example, we are taught how the decision-making processes of a family toward treatment and care are reflected by cultural upbringing.
Even the apostles and disciples, from various backgrounds, needed an understanding of each other, accepting differences between a despised tax collector, a fisherman, and a zealot. They were far from a homogenous group and had to learn that:
the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
Cultural Formations
Culture is influenced and structured by the world one inhabits, from weather, foods, language, history, as well as family internal dynamics and relationships. Ones’ culture is reflected in the individual, the family, selected group, either consciously or subconsciously.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a disinterest to learn about other people’s cultural experiences resulting in confusion, disagreements, unintended discrimination, pain, and hate. Ignorance can even kill.
Cultural Misunderstanding
A British unit during the Korean war was tasked with holding a hill to prevent Chinese forces from the river crossing. Soon, surrounded on all sides, outnumbered eight to one, circumstances were obviously desperate. The unit commander reported to his American commander, “Things are a bit sticky, sir”, meaning a situation desperate. Due to cultural misinterpretation, this American thought the condition, desperate but manageable, ordering the British to hold. Four days later, the British position was overrun. Five hundred of the six hundred soldiers were taken prisoner, the rest died or managed to escape.
Medical Examples of Physical Bias
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).
The University of Michigan used a pulse oximeter which uses light transmitted through skin and tissue to measure the oxygen in the blood and discovered that it is three times more likely to miss low oxygen levels in Black patients than in white.
One in five women feels a health care provider has ignored or dismissed their symptoms.
Most medical science is based on the belief male and female physiology differ only in terms of sex and reproductive organs, therefore “most research has been conducted on male animals and male cells.” Emily Paulsen.
Based on the above, eight of the ten drugs removed from the US market between1997-2000 were withdrawn because of unintended side effects occurring mainly or exclusively in women. Between 2004-2013, US women suffered more than 2 million drug-related adverse events, compared with 1.3 million for men. Finally, in 2016, women accounted for roughly half of the participants in some clinical trials funded by the US National Institutes of Health. Funding for women’s health remains an issue. From the UK, less than 2.5% of publicly-funded research was dedicated to reproductive health. Yet 1 in 3 women will suffer from reproductive or gynecological health issues (The Conversation).
Misunderstanding the Other
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all (Romans 12:18 ).
How often do we misunderstand the cultural, social traditions of another? If we do not try, how can relationships, co-existence endure and of our great multicultural nation’s future? Differences must be recognized, understood, taught. I saw these misconceptions in my old neighborhood between the Italians from southern Italy and those from the north, misperceptions between the Irish and Italians. Even among my Jewish neighbors, we needed to be aware, understand, accept differences between various degrees of their religiosity. As Christians, we have this obligation to learn.
A personal experience where knowledge was appreciated of cultural differences was vital when I was invited to a wedding by a friend. She asked me, “Have you ever been to a Chinese wedding Reception”. We weren’t dating, she had a boyfriend. I replied, “No, what about your boyfriend?” “No, I can’t attend because he’s Japanese, and my family’s from the mainland and barely survived the occupation.” It was lucky that I knew my history. If not, I would have been lost in ignorance of historical animosity.
God Is Sensitive to Cultural Differences
When the Virgin Mary appeared, leaving us The Tilma with Her image as the Virgin of Guadalupe, she appeared as an Aztec woman, in their cultural garments filled with cultural symbolism. This was a message to the ruling Spaniards. They must understand that the Indigenous are loved, are God’s children, and end their cruelty by creating a new cultural awareness, acceptance, and understanding. After all, Christians from all nations are not required to change their culture to meet some uniform standard.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”(Revelation 7:9-10 ).
Misunderstanding Based on Environment
A quote from Frank Herbert’s book Dune illustrates cross-cultural misunderstanding through the interaction between allies, which nearly ends in tragedy:
One moment, please,” Duke Leto said, and the very mildness of his voice held them. He addressed himself to the Fremen: “Sir, I honour and respect the personal dignity of any man who respects my dignity. I am indeed indebted to you. And I always pay my debts.
The Fremen stared at the Duke…. Deliberately he bent over the end of the table, spat on its polished surface….as tensions rose to confrontation… the Duke’s officer said: “We thank you, for the gift of your body’s moisture. We accept it in the spirit with which it is given.” And spat on the table in front of the Duke, saying to him, “Remember how precious water is here, Sire. That was a token of respect.
To one party, who was born in a water-rich world where water has little value, spitting on the table is a gesture of extreme contempt. To the other who was born in a world so arid that they wore suits that recycled water from sweat and human waste and even reclaimed water from the dead, spitting was a deliberate sacrifice of a much-valued resource to show respect.
Racial Ignorance of the Majority Leads to Misunderstanding
The goal – “observe the natural history of untreated syphilis” in black populations, but the subjects (600 African-American men) were completely unaware and were instead told they were receiving treatment for bad blood when in fact, they received no treatment at all. Starting in 1932, The “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” was conducted by the United States Public Health Service and involved blood tests, x-rays, spinal taps and autopsies of the subjects. Even after penicillin was discovered, the majority of men didn’t receive it (Ada McVean B.Sc.).
Generational Abuse
Family trauma such as abuse, alcoholism, marital infidelities, etc., can be passed on. In The Shack, a son could no longer tolerate his alcoholic father’s abuse which leads to murder. The son finally understands his father after seeing, through the power of God, his father being abused by his grandfather, thus creating a new bond of love.
Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you(Luke 6:37-38).
Our Faith’s Teaching
Catholic Social Teaching is a central and essential element of our faith. It is a teaching founded on the life & words of Jesus Christ, who came “to bring glad tidings to the poor . . . liberty to captives . . . & who identified himself with “the least of these,” the hungry and the stranger (cf. Mt 25:45).
Catholic social teaching emerges from the truth of what God has revealed to us about Himself. Therefore, we who are made in God’s image share this communal, social nature. We are called to reach out & to build relationships of love and justice. The Church’s social teaching
is based on & inseparable from our understanding of human life & human dignity. Every human being is created in the image of God & redeemed by Jesus Christ & therefore is invaluable & worthy of respect as a member of the human family. Every person, from the moment of conception to natural death, has inherent dignity & a right to life consistent with that dignity. Human dignity comes from God, not from any human quality or accomplishment (Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges & Directions).
We as individuals cannot live unaware and ignorant of the life experiences of others.
Men blaspheme what they do not know ( Blaise Pascal).
Basic Principles of Understanding
- Recognition that lack of understanding leads to discrimination is socially constructed, socially significant, & is the product of social thought.
- Acknowledgment that this is embedded within systems, structures, and institutions, like the mental health and legal system. These are not aberrations.
- Education is the keystone. Recognition of the effect on everyday life, embracing all lived experiences (Paraphrasing Janel George).
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-36 ).
This article first appeared on The Catholic Stand.
Glenn Slaby Blog