In reality, some cultures are dominant and some are on the bottom of the pile. It is a question of power. Professor Ackermann agreed that difference was about material differences and also, critically, about power-economic, historical and traditional power. On a personal note, she also suggested that still one had to come up with ways of living with difference, though this of course did not mean considering any romantic understandings of difference. Thus the question becomes one of understanding one's own boundaries and where they end.
Religions are notorious for having quite rigid, or narrow, boundaries.
This is something that religion has to rise above. And yet it appears that laying claim to truth is an essential component of religion. Hence the question of relativity enters even discourse about tolerance. She expressed agreement with the problem of religious truth as stated. Perhaps it would help, she suggested, to think of there being many truths greatly depending upon personal perspective and location.