From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,talk.politics.misc,ca.politics
Subject: Culture Wars, by James Davison Hunter
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:30:38 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA


Culture Wars: The Struggle To Define America
by James Davison Hunter
Basic Books, New York
401 pages, ISBN 0-465-01533-6

Hunter is professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at the 
University of Virginia.  In Culture Wars, Hunter attempts to
explain the origins of the emerging cultural war in America, 
and suggest a manner in which this essential conflict between
two fundamentally opposing groups can be managed so as to 
avoid a transformation of a war of ideas into a real civil
war.  To Prof. Hunter's credit, he seems to be quite aware
that this conflict of values is so dramatic that it may not 
be resolvable peacefully.

The prologue of Culture Wars presents a series of vignettes
of various forms of political activists, representing both
the orthodox and progressive visions of this cultural divide:
Chuck McIlhenny, the pastor of a Presbyterian church in San
Francisco, whose decision to fire a homosexual organist
led to lawsuits, firebombings of his church and home, and
repeated death threats from homosexual activists; Richmond
Young, a San Francisco homosexual activist, trying to get a
domestic partners ordinance passed by the city; Yehuda Levin,
an Orthodox Jewish rabbi involved in the pro-life movement;
Bea Blair, a pro-choice activist; Mae Duggan, a Christian
advocate against the government education monopoly; and
Harriet Woods, Blair's opponent in the struggle over whether
the schools will be public and secular, or diverse with a 
diverse set of belief systems taught in them.

Rather than seeing each of these as unconnected forms of
political activism, Hunter shows how each of these activists
and issues are manifestations of an underlying set of 
assumptions about whether moral values are transcendant (what
Hunter calls the "orthodox" faction), or evolving (i.e.,
"progressives").  More importantly, Hunter shows us how the
same words (e.g., "freedom") lead honest, well-meaning
people to dramatically different policies, based on their
underlying assumptions about the transcendancy or ephemerality
of values.  

As an example, advocates on both sides of the cultural 
divide esteem the Bill of Rights, but whether the guarantees 
and limitations contained within that document constitute a 
permanent statement about the appropriate relative position 
of government and individual, or merely a statement of 
general principles subject to more modern interpretation and 
revision, demonstrates the nature of the disagreement.

Similarly, nearly all of the orthodox faction holds the
Bible to be in some manner a statement of transcendant
moral values, while the progressive faction (with more
exceptions) holds that where the Bible makes authoritative
statements about behavior, these must be interpreted in
light of an evolving understanding of human nature.

This isn't the first time this conflict has taken place
in the West, of course, and Hunter provides some history of
how 19th century America suffered similar struggles over
whose vision of America would take precedence.  At the 
same time, Hunter describes how, what in the 19th century
was primarily a struggle between Protestants and Catholics,
and both groups against Jews, is now realigning traditional
opponents into common alliances, with Orthodox and some
Conservative Jews working in combination with conservative
Catholics and Protestants against progressives, consisting
of liberal Catholics, main-line Protestants, Reform
Judaism, and a variety of secular groups.

Of course, as Hunter observes, many Americans, while having
some level of agreement with one of these two philosophies,
are not entirely tied to one faction or another.  But as
the culture war heats up, people in the middle are 
increasingly finding themselves forced to choose sides, as 
I find myself having to do.

About halfway through Culture Wars, I found myself wondering,
"Should I have waited for Reader's Digest to condense this?"
(Obviously, that's not going to happen).  Be prepared for a
leisurely and detailed analysis of the struggles that are
underway in America.

Throughout Culture Wars, Hunter maintains a careful objectivity
concerning both the underlying philosophies, the individual
issue expressions of those philosophies, and the activists
themselves.  I have no idea on which side of the divide 
Hunter himself stands -- and I rather prefer that approach.

Hunter believes that the progressive factions will win, 
largely because they largely control the mass media and the 
educational establishment.
-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
Lesson learned from Gov. Wilson's signing of AB 2601: if you don't get 
your way, have a riot.  Next time, Gov. Wilson will cower appropriately.