"Show me a cultural relativist at thirty thousand feet and I'll show you a hypocrite. Airplanes are built according to scientific principles and they work. They stay aloft and they get you to a chosen destination. Airplanes built to tribal or mythological specifications such as the dummy planes of the Cargo cults in jungle clearings or the bees-waxed wings of Icarus don't." - Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden

"[T]here is ample evidence to support the proposition that scientific rationality has become "our destiny." For better or for worse, and not minimizing the impact of colonialism on demolishing the self-confidence of non-Western societies in their own knowledge systems, it is an empirical fact that modern science has acquired a near universal appeal. One need not look beyond the desperate eagerness of Third World societies to emulate the success of technologically advanced societies (often with disastrous results) to be reminded of the deep appeal this cognitive style has come to exert. While one can have reservations about its desirability, the fact that we live in a world where one cognitive style is being sought and adopted by diverse cultures can hardly be denied." - Meera Nanda, The Science Question in Postcolonial Feminism, in The Flight from Science And Reason 426-27 (P. Gross, et al., eds.1996)

As cited in: The Panda's Thumb: A Smithsonian Anti-Science Museum?, which adds:

"Indeed, I would argue that scientific understanding is the only understanding on which genuine respect can be based. The alternative is an attitude of "you believe your thing, I'll believe mine" which is not really respect, but just mutual silence, which often can breed resentment."