In U.S. law, in order to qualify as a refugee and apply for asylum, an alien must be unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality because he or she has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or "membership in a particular social group." This quoted portion of our law has been used to argue that women who fear female genital mutilation should all be granted asylum. Laws such as this show no appreciation for the existence or impact of international cultural diversity. We need to replace internationally-oriented, culturally-neutral laws with laws informed by culturist understandings.

Some of our asylum criteria make more sense than others. Race is not a reasonable basis for discrimination. But does persecution for political opinion automatically make you a great candidate for residence in the West? Perhaps the person in question is one of the rebels disrupting elections in Kenya. There might be reason for the government to try to stop your murderous destabilization of the country. Not discriminating on the basis of religion makes us vulnerable to penetration by those from bizarre cults. In Egypt or Turkey your "religious persecutionâ€