In 1991, James Davison Hunter’s book “Culture Wars” provided the descriptive term for America’s fights over issues like abortion, gay rights, religion in public schools, and family values. He was describing the conflict between the progressive secular culture that emerged from the 1960s and a conservative culture rooted in religiosity.
Today, Hunter says that “In 1991, politics still seemed like a vehicle through which we might resolve divisive cultural issues; now, politics is primarily fueled by division on those issues, with leaders gaining power by inflaming resentments on mask-wearing, or transgender students competing in athletics, or invocations of “cancel culture,” or whether it’s OK to teach that many of the Founding Fathers had racist beliefs… Culture wars always precede shooting wars. They don’t necessarily lead to a shooting war, but you never have a shooting war without a culture war prior to it, because culture provides the justifications for violence.”
If you believe, as Hunter does, that “democracy... is an agreement that we will not kill each other over our differences, but instead, we’ll talk through those differences”, do you have hope that, as a nation, we can learn to agree to disagree and not allow our politics to be subsumed by political violence?
Are Culture Wars Truly America's "Endless Wars"?
In 1991, James Davison Hunter’s book “Culture Wars” provided the descriptive term for America’s fights over issues like abortion, gay rights, religion in public schools, and family values. He was describing the conflict between the progressive secular culture that emerged from the 1960s and a conservative culture rooted in religiosity.
Today, Hunter says that “In 1991, politics still seemed like a vehicle through which we might resolve divisive cultural issues; now, politics is primarily fueled by division on those issues, with leaders gaining power by inflaming resentments on mask-wearing, or transgender students competing in athletics, or invocations of “cancel culture,” or whether it’s OK to teach that many of the Founding Fathers had racist beliefs… Culture wars always precede shooting wars. They don’t necessarily lead to a shooting war, but you never have a shooting war without a culture war prior to it, because culture provides the justifications for violence.”
If you believe, as Hunter does, that “democracy... is an agreement that we will not kill each other over our differences, but instead, we’ll talk through those differences”, do you have hope that, as a nation, we can learn to agree to disagree and not allow our politics to be subsumed by political violence?
(Source: Politico)