On August 17, 2021, the Taliban, fresh from their takeover of Afghanistan, released a statement that they would protect the existing rights of Afghan women “within the framework of Islam.” There was no mention of “human rights” or the Western idea of equality. Instead, the Taliban were appealing to a 2500-year-old tradition — the idea of cultural relativity. The belief that right and wrong and good and bad depend on the culture to which one belongs is popular today. We are loath to say that one culture is better or worse than another, that one way of doing things is “immoral,” or that some traditions are a bit disgusting or weird. Doing so risks being labeled culturally insensitive — or worse. But what do we lose by being willfully blind to vast differences in moral standards between cultures? You say potato, I say ritual child sacrifice From where do you get your morals? Your sense of right and wrong?…