Are all cultures equally valid morally?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Are all cultures equally valid morally?". Your opponent's style: Christopher Hitchens

No

You're saying all cultures *aren't* equally valid morally—which means you're claiming some cultures are objectively better than others. Fine. But the moment you say that, you've handed me the real problem: by what standard? Your culture's? The West's? Here's the trap you've walked into: every culture believes *its* morality is correct. The Taliban thinks they're right. Medieval Catholicism thought it was right. You think *you're* right. So "objectively better" just means "I agree with it," dressed up in philosophy clothes. If morality were truly universal, we wouldn't need to argue about it—we'd observe it like gravity. Instead, we're at war over it. So what's your actual standard for judging cultures, or are you just smuggling in Western liberalism as universal truth?

No

Right. So you're *defending* the idea that all cultures ARE equally valid morally. That's moral relativism—and it collapses the moment you actually need it. If female genital mutilation is "equally valid" in cultures that practice it, you've just said you can't object to it. Same with honor killings, slavery, or child marriage. These aren't abstract debates—they're happening *now* to real people. Yet you're paralyzed by relativism, unable to say "this is actually wrong." The West didn't end slavery by accepting that slaveholding cultures were "equally valid." It ended it by saying some things are objectively immoral. You can't have it both ways: either morality matters, or it doesn't.