Culture Wars and Evolving Culture War over Religion

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Culture War
Throughout the course, the materials have focused on the unique period known as the sixties, followed by turbulent decades in which a new America was born. According to Hartman (7), the birth of a new America in this period was mainly based on debates about the idea of America. In this new America, old perceptions or conservative notions of America's ideas were challenged by an emerging liberal youth forcing the country to be divided into the far left and the far right. The American Culture became the focus of debate and political confrontations. The clash between these two groups is what amounts to a culture war. In essence, a culture war is a cultural conflict between different social groups within a society, with each seeking to dominate that society's values, beliefs, and practices.
In this case, the two main social groups were rightists and leftists, with the former influenced by the need for new ideas and perceptions of the world that would transform the American society based on critical issues like war, racial discrimination, gender equality, and freedom of expression (Corredor). According to Hartman, "the sixties gave birth to a new America; a notion more open to new peoples, ideas, norms, and articulation of America itself (Hartman 56)" In other words, the primary contest in the culture war was the fundamental idea of who Americans were in terms of their identity, norms, relations with people from foreign countries, and the extent to which it could accommodate equality. Based on this explanation and the definition of the culture war, the concept can also be described as a conflict in which the national culture is at stake. This is because identifying one as an American means that one has been associated with the American culture.
Thus, the culture war phrase adequately describes the conflict for several reasons. Firstly, it is a culture that is at stake. Morone (20) holds that a new nation, drawn from many tribes and races, always faces the primal question of "who are we?" People in this conflict are not necessarily pursuing personal interests. Instead, they are looking to either sustain the current American culture or allow it to take a new direction. This is why major disagreements included affirmative action, abortion, art, censorship, media, multiculturism, sex education, national history standards, family values, and evolution. These are key societal aspects that cumulatively define the culture (Karjalainen). Therefore, people who disagree on the nuances within these dimensions are in a struggle for social control.
Secondly, culture war best describes the conflict because the conflict is projected to pervade other critical areas like legislation and policing. Studies have shown that culture influences law in the same manner laws influences culture (Samuel). Thus, by taking control of the American culture, any social group, be it conservative or liberal, could influence American legislative outcomes and, therefore, the country's direction concerning global developments in issues like human rights, inclusivity, health, education, and environmentalism. The household, for instance, is the fundamental economic, social, and political unit. The...