Elevating culture or discovering truth?

Is it possible to believe in (or to know) truth, without being ethnocentric? This is a central question of mine.

Here is a quote I posted yesterday, with some reflections:

“Many of the difficulties with intercultural communication can be traced to the obstacles created by ethnocentrism, which means, literally, ‘centrality of culture.’  When one’s own culture is considered central to all reality, the values, assumptions, and behavior norms of that culture may be elevated to the position of absolute truth.  There are several implications of this definition.  First, ethnocentric beliefs about one’s own culture shape a social sense of identity which is narrow and defensive.  Second, ethnocentrism normally involves the perception of members of other cultures in terms of stereotypes.  Third, the dynamic of ethnocentrism is such that comparative judgments are made between one’s own culture and other cultures under the assumption that one’s own is normal and natural.  As a consequence, ethnocentric judgments usually involve invidious comparisons that ennoble one’s own culture while degrading those of others.  With these costs, ethnocentrism establishes identity and belonging in the context of culture.”

Edward Stewart and Milton Bennett, American Cultural Patterns

One of the key statements here is the second sentence: "When one's own culture is considered central to all reality, the values, assumptions, and behavior norms of that culture may be elevated to the position of absolute truth." 

Ethnocentrism, and the problems between people of different cultures, has to do with the elevating of the values, assumptions and behavior norms of a culture - i.e., of what is particular to a given people at a given time and place - to the position of absolute truth.

This - ethnocentrism, and elevating our culture to a position of absolute truth - is a tendency of all people.

One of the things I am trying to navigate, as a person of faith, is the way between what you might see as two ends of a spectrum. On the one end is the cultural relativism of the non-believing anthropologist, who would see everything as human, cultural, relative. On the other end is ethnocentric religious faith, where in the name of God and truth, people of faith have confused what is of them (human, culture, relative) with what is of God (e.g., assuming that certain ways of worshiping God and of living, which are peculiar to them, are universal). What I am looking for is a balance, a way of life, that is centered on knowing truth, but in a non-ethnocentric way.

In other words, is there a way to know, to discover, truth, but not relate to other people of other cultures, in a way that elevates that which is of us, of our culture, to the position of truth?