The Case for Contamination by Anthony Appiah - Essay Example

“The case for contamination" by Anthony Appiah Religions are important aspects of culture that have influenced the structures of societies since time immemorial. The importance of religions in societies is extensive with religions providing the society with fundamental values that help hold the societal fabric in any society. With such knowledge, Anthony Appiah decides to analyze the contemporary society. The author investigates the importance and nature of integration in the society. The numerous telecommunication technologies coupled with the efficient means of transport have successfully developed a global village, one in which people from different parts of the world readily share their ideas. In such a society, it becomes difficult to control the trending social values that people share in such platforms. Appiah thus retains a passive viewpoint as he strives to maintain objectivity in the article. He discusses the importance of religion in the changing society as the discussion below portrays. Just as the title of the article depicts, Anthony Appiah discusses the “contamination” of the world. In his context, contamination of the world refers to the slow but sure infiltration of foreign cultures as people continually integrate on a global platform. The advancement of the society coupled with the development of new technologies have created a global village, such is a society in which people trade cultural values easily. According to Appiah, the seclusion of the traditional society sought to preserve the cultures and values of the societies that could not readily interact with others (Flood 21). With the intensified interactions in the contemporary society, it becomes difficult to monitor the actions of people as most societies continue to adopt the independent structures thus borrowing global cultural trends. As such, cultures continue to infiltrate the society; Appiah observes that such changes are contaminations of the inherent cultural values. While religion is a fundamental aspect of a society and a cultural feature, the changes in the current structures of societies continue to apportion a reserved function for religions. Unlike in some of the traditional societies in which the Church for example was an important organ of governance, contemporary societies have secular governments. This exhibits the inherent change in the structures of the societies and the cultural values of the people in contemporary societies. The modern structure of societies position religion as important in setting values and influencing the behavior of people in the society but lacking functional infrastructures to implement and monitor the implementation of the specific values. Despite such, Anthony Appiah asserts that religion will remain an important aspect of the society. Despite the changes and intensifying integration in the modern society, people still seek religion. Among the topical issues that Anthony Appiah discusses in his article is globalization. The author appreciates the importance of the intensifying integration explaining that such changes are not all negative. By admitting that the society is fast changing as globalization intensifies, Appiah acknowledges that culture is a dynamic feature that the people have changed with time. As discussed earlier, culture is an important aspect of human life since it influences the behavior of people. The contemporary society on the other hand portrays a unique setting in which the people influence the fundamental cultural changes. Anthony Appiah discusses the feature by explaining the importance of global integration in influencing the behavior of people in the modern society. The dynamisms of culture exhibit itself in cases where people adopt specific cultural features while abandoning some features of their own culture. As history provides, the works of both Christian and Islamic missionaries succeeded in enhancing the spread of the two religions in the world. This portrays that people can change every feature of their cultures including their religious beliefs. Changing religious values and doctrines is a portrayal of the dynamism of culture since people continue to abandon specific features of their cultures they consider mundane while adopting others. Such are portrayal of the importance of integration in influencing the cultural integration. In explaining globalization, Anthony Appiah claims that not all the changes are bad. He explains that celebrating cultural preservation is not entirely a good cultural feature especially in cases where such cultural features present risks to the people who practice them. In fact, the author criticizes some of the religious and cultural features of the traditional society, which he considers mundane. The development of medicine for example in the modern society sought to make life better by providing high quality medication to the numerous infections in the society. It thus becomes retrogressive for a religious grouping to discourage its adherents from accessing health services, as is the case in some of the remote parts of Africa, Asia and south Americas. In such cases, Anthony Appiah appreciates the contamination explaining that such changes are fundamental in improving the quality of life. The same applies to such cultural manifestations as female genital mutilation, which he explains, presents myriad risks to the lives of the participants. He thus explains that celebrating cultural preservations with the view of reserving such mundane cultural features is retrogressive. Anthony Appiah also discusses the nature of cosmopolitanism. He explains the importance of influencing an individual before changing the society, a tribe or a nation. The author asserts that changing the individual beliefs is important since as such the change result in a change of behavior in the individual thus trickling to the people. While the author discuss the contamination of cultural values, he maintains that changing the behavior of individuals is the surest way in which the trends of globalization and social media are changing the lives of people thus the social structures. According to Appiah, contamination refers to the influence of innovation and integration in the society. In the additional settings, people inherited cultural values from their ancestors; the author thus explains the need for the changes and either positive or negative effects of the changes in the society. Among such values passed down from ancestors through successive parents is religion. The changing social structure thus influences the place of religion in the modern society. While the author observes such, he explains that some of such changes are positive since they seek to make the society safer and cohesive. Globalization for example refers to the development of a global village. Such is a world I which people share ideas and interact freely. Religion thus plays an important role in the creation of the global village since it influences the behavior and values of the people. Some religions are liberal thus permit its adherents to dress cordially and engaging in social conversations freely. Others on the other hand are conservative and stringent. The technological advancement some of which have succeeded in providing social platforms for integration thus slowly become platforms for conflicts as each group defends its religious beliefs and cultural values. Each religion has its unique doctrines thus validating either the liberal or the conservative structure. In such cases, either religion thus appears as an impurity that seeks to belittle the adherents of the other faith. The social media for example is a platform for confrontation as different religious groupings especially Islam and Christianity confront. Each group comes out strongly to defend its religion with some of such discussion disintegrating into hate messages and incitements. As stated earlier, religion is an important aspect of humanity since it provides the values that make up an individual. In such cases, contaminating an individual’s religions thus amounts to disregarding the entire individual a feature that readily manifests itself in the social media as each group comes out to defend its religion even to the point of vouching for wars. While most features of the integration in the modern society, remain positive and life enhancing, the inability of the people to share their religious differences amicably especially with the increase in cases of terrorism globally portrays the extent of religious contamination. Religions often strive to increases the size of its adherents. As such, people often share the doctrines of their religions with the view of converting new followers into the faith. This presents religions as aggressive institutions that enjoy the contemporary developments in order to reach out to new territories. Such acts of aggression often manifest themselves as a contamination of other faiths often disintegrating into religious conflicts. The author further discusses cultural preservation especially in the modern cosmopolitan societies. Despite the changing societies, the preservation of culture remains an essential feature since it contributes to a formidable history. The history of a society remains an influential point of reference thus influencing the nature of future religion. However, the author observes that in doing this the people must distinct their intentions. This way it becomes possible to preserve specific features of a culture that improve the quality of life while abandoning retrogressive features of cultures. Most societies preserve their cultures through artistic paintings among other similar creations. This way, the preservation enhances the quality of life by providing job and business opportunities to people. Additionally the presence of numerous museums and numerous other art galleries in different parts of the world portrays the modern type of cultural preservation. Numerous faith-based organization including churches also have museums among other types of art galleries. Religion influenced the development of arts in the society since time immemorial. The likes of Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci perfected their arts by developing numerous religious artifacts including artistic paintings. In such contexts, the author explains that the cultural preservation is fundamental in sustaining the faiths. Through missionary works, specific individuals championed the infiltration of different parts of the world as they interacted with the people. The liberal nature of modern societies permits people to make decisions concerning their faiths. In order to do this effectively, people require both information and choices (Greyerz 43). The modern innovations such as the internet provide a source for information thus informing the decisions that people make concerning their religions. Cultural contamination exhibits itself in religions in cases where religious interactions result in conflicts. Changing the religious beliefs of an individual is a hectic process that requires effective consultations with such individuals. Additionally, it requires patience and diplomatic approach in order to influence them peacefully. Cultural changes in the modern society should promote peaceful coexistence of people from varied backgrounds. This implies that the changes arising from cultural and religious interactions should uphold the peaceful coexistence of the varied people. In retrospect, the author postulates that cultural contamination is inevitable in the contemporary society given the advancing technologies and innovations. Despite such, the position of religion and faith remains fundamental in influencing the behavior of people in the modern society. The author asserts that such changes must be positive with the view of improving the quality of lives. Additionally, the liberal nature of the contemporary society must permit people to decide on such changes voluntarily. Works cited Appiah, Anthony. The case for contamination. New York times 01/012006. Print. Flood, Gavin D. The Importance of Religion: Meaning and Action in Our Strange World. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print. Greyerz, Kaspar . Religion and Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Internet resource. Read More