The Real Cultural War

For a couple of years now I have been hearing the phrase "Culture Wars" in the media. As far as I could tell it was used to describe the friction that exists between people with different visions for the way society should be shaped. More specifically it was used in reference to politics in the United States and was used primarily by conservative news pundits and politicians to raise the anxiety of voters. (Which isn't to say that liberal/progressive news pundits and politicians don't the same sort of  thing. I just don't recall them using the term Culture War.)

What I find most interesting is that when we think about different cultures we most often think about people of different lands and traditions. So I am not surprised when I hear about clashes between Muslims and Christians. There is nothing new here. People of different lands, ethnicities and religions have been fighting since before there was a way to record the events.

But the Culture War that is raging today has little to do with borders, ethnic backgrounds or faith. The Culture War that is going on today is about the difference between a technologically based culture (in some places called postmodern culture) and the industrial based culture that began almost 500 years ago (currently called the modern culture). In this borderless war we people of the same nation, same religion and the same ethnic background at odds with each other. We also see people of different nations, backgrounds and faiths fighting for what basically amounts to be the same thing.

The Tea Party movement currently getting attention in the United States has highlighted the depths of emotion and concern of many people who feel that society is no longer being shaped by their values. These values are sometimes called "family values" or "faith values." They want laws, politicians and even judges to reflect these values. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) recently defended his 2004 claims that if someone is openly homosexual or an unmarried woman who is sleeping with her boyfriend, they should not be school teachers since they obviously don't share the same values as his voters do. He said people "don't want government purging their rights and their freedom to religion.” In his understanding, a person's freedom [of] religion is not just a freedom to worship but goes so far as to include creating laws and moral codes based on their religious values.

This is basically the same thing that conservative Muslims are concerned with.  Certain groups within the Islamic community want laws in every place to reflect their personal values. Sharia law is based on these conservative values of Islamic faith. Those in the Tea Party movement and fundamentalist Muslims both want the same thing: A society based on their particular values. To be sure, there would be significant differences between a society based on Tea Party values and one based on conservative Muslim values but the general desire is the same.

What both groups are really fighting are the cultural changes that are taking place as a new culture emerges. This new, technologically based culture makes us more aware of the diversity of our world. It requires us to be tolerant of a much greater range of people and ideas. It is a culture that has to make room for multiple value sets and calls on us to be more knowledgeable of many faith customs. And currently it is a culture that has not taken full form yet.

It is, perhaps, the ambiguity and the lack of clarity that is causing the most anxiety. But this is a one sided war. The emerging culture is not fighting back directly but is steadily moving forward. In the long run it will win and in many ways has already won. Both the Tea Party and conservative Muslim movements use and depend on the very technology that is undermining their deepest desires.