If you read newspapers or magazines in America, you have heard the term “culture wars.”
If you have read GetReligion for any time at all, then you probably know that, in the work of sociologist James Davison Hunter, the term “culture wars” was given a very specific definition that rarely shows up in news coverage.
In the early 1990s, Hunter published a bestseller entitled, “Culture Wars: The Struggle To Control The Family, Art, Education, Law, And Politics In America.” The term leapt into news jargon and, as often happens, it became totally politicized.
What was Hunter talking about? Hold that thought, because we will come back to it. We will need to apply it to a story that’s in the news right now, a story that many will describe as a “culture wars” fight. We discussed all of this during this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (CLICK HERE to tune that in).
Let’s start with this local headline from the Detroit Free Press: “LGBTQ and faith communities struggle for unity in Dearborn, Hamtramck.” What we have here is one of those stories in which conservative religious parents are making a stand in protest LGBTQ education efforts — and some other gender trends — in their local schools.
Sound familiar? But there’s a twist. This time, the evangelical Protestants have what journalists clearly consider some unlikely parters. Here is the (long) overture to the Detroit story, which went national:
The protest began with a prayer.
On a Sunday afternoon last month in Dearborn, Nagi Almudhegi took the stage to address the crowd gathered outside Henry Ford Centennial Library to demonstrate against some LGBTQ books in Dearborn Public Schools' libraries.
"I'd like to start off first of all with a prayer," Almudhegi said. "And I'm going to read, recite the chapter on Fatiha (opening of Quran) in Arabic and then I will read the English translation."
As he spoke, some in the crowd held up signs denouncing books and educational materials in the public schools that they believe are too explicit for children. "Stop brainwash our children," read the sign of a woman cloaked in a robe. "Quit grooming students, you sexually perverted animals," read another placard held up by Wadeea Yassir, a Dearborn resident who was one of hundreds at the Sept. 25 rally, mostly Muslim. One woman with a headscarf held up a poster with a red X over a Pride flag that said: "Keep your twisted mindset to yourself." Some hurled anti-gay slurs at a counter-protester who is trans, Sam Smalley, and told him: "Go cry."
"I seek refuge in God Almighty, from Satan, the cursed one, in the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful," Almudhegi said. "Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom You have blessed, and not those whom You are angered with, nor those whom are astray. Amen."
The scene on Sept. 25 reflected how religion is shaping intense debates taking place in Dearborn, Hamtramck and other cities this year over LGBTQ community and education.
But, well, you know. This story is different.
The problem is that the parents, in this case, were not White Evangelical Protestants — alone. The usual suspects were involved, but this time the heavy lifting was being done by believers in another giant global faith with very conservative teachings on issues of marriage, sexuality, etc.
This was a left vs. right religious liberty battle with a major twist. This brings us back to Hunter’s famous “Culture Wars” book.
On the 10th anniversary of my national “On Religion” column (which will soon enter year 34), I wrote a column about Hunter’s book and it’s impact on my reporting. The headline: “Ten years of reporting on a fault line.”
The key was a phenomenon — which I then thought was strange — that I kept seeing at all kinds of political-religious events I was covering. Remember, this was about 25 years ago:
A pro-life rally, for example, would feature a Baptist, a Catholic priest, an Orthodox rabbi and a cluster of conservative Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Lutherans. Then, the pro-choice counter-rally would feature a "moderate" Baptist, a Catholic activist or two, a Reform rabbi and mainline Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Lutherans.
Similar line-ups would appear at many rallies linked to gay rights, sex-education programs and controversies in media, the arts and even science. Along with other journalists, I kept reporting that today's social issues were creating bizarre coalitions that defied historic and doctrinal boundaries. After several years of writing about "strange bedfellows," it became obvious that what was once unique was now commonplace.
The same thing was happening to Hunter during the 1980s.
In one case, he was asked to give expert testimony in a church-state court battle — focusing on whether "secular humanism" had evolved into a state-mandated religion that clashed with traditional forms of "Judeo-Christian" faiths.
"I realized something there in that courtroom. We were witnessing a fundamental realignment in American religious pluralism," said James Davison Hunter of the University of Virginia. "Divisions that were deeply rooted in our civilization were disappearing, divisions that had for generations caused religious animosity, prejudice and even warfare. It was mind- blowing. The ground was moving."
The old dividing lines centered on issues such as the person of Jesus Christ, church tradition and the Protestant Reformation. But these new interfaith coalitions were fighting about something even more basic – the nature of truth and moral authority. …
Hunter began writing "Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America," in which he declared that America now contains two basic world views, which he called "orthodox" and "progressive." The orthodox believe it's possible to follow transcendent, revealed truths. Progressives disagree and put their trust in personal experience, even if that requires them to "resymbolize historic faiths according to the prevailing assumptions of contemporary life."
It’s easy to see the connection to the Dearborn case, isn’t it? Clearly, if this trend continues, it has major implications for American law and politics.
At the heart of these battles over LGBTQ issues in public schools is a crucial issue linked to parental rights and religious liberty.
One one side are — in Hunter terms — religious progressives and secular parents who want to see LGBTQ issues handled in classrooms, with content that fits their beliefs. On the other side are parents from traditional expressions of ancient faiths. These new educational “doctrines” on sex and gender clash with the practice of their faith.
How can public-school leaders, one of the most powerful groups in the Democratic Party, please all of these citizens in “neutral” schools funded by tax dollars?
Let’s keep reading:
During his talk, Almudhegi, who is Muslim, praised Stephanie Butler, a Dearborn parent who is Christian and helping lead the efforts in Dearborn to remove some books and other materials from Dearborn schools. So far, six books, a majority of them on LGBTQ themes, have been removed and access to the library's online system has been restricted for students.
Almudhegi said supporters of the books "call us religious extremists," but they "have to have some mental derangement ... to support this kind of stuff." He led the crowd in chants of "Hell no!" and then praised Butler.
"Right now, Dearborn is in the middle of a great awakening," Almudhegi said, using religious references. "And it's long overdue and it's about time. A month ago, we had one Stephanie Butler. Today, mashallah (God willed), I see there are hundreds of Stephanie Butlers. And tomorrow, inshallah (God willing), we will have thousands. We're not going to be silenced anymore. We're not going to be intimidated. And together united we will make a difference."
Butler referenced the holy books of Christianity and Islam in her speech at the rally, saying schools are "pushing this pornography on our children."
Once again, it’s easy to see the thesis of the “Culture Wars” book by Hunter.
It’s also clear that journalists, at least those who are striving to be fair and accurate, have a problem. How do they include images and direct quotes from many of these books when this content is too racy and sexual in nature to appear in a newspaper or on television (such as kids engaged in oral sex)? Yet, how can journalists describe these parents’ concerns without these facts?
Readers who want to know more about the Dearborn battle can turn to an Axios post that includes many links to core documents, such as the proposals from school leaders to settle this dispute.It treats this as a political clash, of course.
Enjoy the podcast and, please, pass it along to others.
FIRST IMAGE: Part of a conservative-media meme circulating on Twitter and in other social media.