Culture Wars

          There is an ongoing culture war in the United States. It’s a timeless war that ebbs and flows with the winds of change. The current wind is political, but it’s also religious. As strange of bedfellows as politics and religion may seem, this is America and we are not surprised. The battle between church and state and the resulting culture wars are more American than mom, apple pie, and baseball. This pastime has been nothing short of a national lovers’ quarrel from our founding.
          Our culture wars evolve as the issues evolve and the battles may take various forms such as between: White vs. Black, North vs. South, urban vs suburban vs rural, conservative/traditional vs. liberal/progressive, Christian vs Non, and so on. But there is always that pervading element of culture in each pushing forth the notion that groups must preserve and protect their beliefs and ways of life. If we could simply stop at preservation of culture, then there’d be no war. The aspect of war comes from one group’s collective fear that a group with opposing or differing beliefs and values poses a threat.
           The issues include the debate between Evolution and Creationism, gun-rights/gun-control, homosexual marriage, affirmative action, abortion and women’s rights, access to healthcare, poverty issues, social justice issues, school prayer, 10 Commandments displays and nativity scenes on public property, English as official language, and immigration and the list goes on.
          Our country has had some knock down and drag out fights including the one that almost cost us the Union, other unfulfilled threats of breaking up, many mind games, lots of back-stabbing, but the prevailing sentiment has been to stay together for the sake of the kids. We the citizens are the kids in this scenario, but our two parents of church and state seem always to get back together without ever reaching a lasting compromise. One might suggest marriage counseling, but should it be from a secular or Christian counselor? 
          Convenient targets though they are, the culture wars are not the fault of your least favorite politician. Obama didn’t start this, nor did Romney, and regardless of who wins in November neither will end it. We are fighting battles that are older than our country, much older. I’m in the U.K. right now and as I am wont to do I have been talking the two subjects we are often taught to avoid in polite conversation: politics and religion. Our British allies appreciate our struggles and one cannot help but perceive them enjoying wry amusement at our expense as they observe our young country as we squabble amongst ourselves much as their older nation has done lo these many years.
          It is tempting, though it would be fruitless in this discussion to compare the Obama years to the George W. Bush years. Most of us are convinced one way or another, so instead of casting blame on the one whom many on the right think is unworthy for their believing he’s the foreign-born, Muslim, antichrist or the one who many on the left think was ineligible because of the perceived partisan decision of the Supreme Court who decided the election or because of a lack of faith in his intellect, let us look at ourselves individually and at our nation collectively. No matter how we break it down, this is about all of us, individually as well as collectively. What are the roles of both church and state, and what are the cultural ramifications? Should the church tell the government how to operate? Should the government dictate the actions and procedures of the church?
          We seem simply incapable of the notion of “live and let live”. Too often it is not enough to simply disapprove or not partake of another culture, we want to denigrate it, regulate it, legislate it, or eradicate it. We as Americans love and celebrate our freedoms, and rightly so, but so often we have difficulty extending to others their freedoms if we believe they are wrong. We in God’s Kingdom seem to want to do legislatively what we have failed to do relationally. Our individual Christian witnessing and the collective work of the church has not provided the results we long for, that we feel God wants of us, so we turn our attention to the United States government to enforce our beliefs. In so doing we have divided the church, divided the nation, run off younger generations of believers, and alienated non-believers to the point that our beliefs are of little consequence. Those we wish to reach, are called to reach, have written us off because they have seen our rampant hypocrisy, incessant power-grabbing, bruising infighting, and unrestrained greed.
          Neither of our two major political parties can claim a monopoly on God or morality. Democrats may, if they bother at all, rather uncomfortably and often unconvincingly, pick up the religious banner when vying for black and Hispanic votes, just to lay it down in the world of academia or Hollywood just as Republicans bible thump significantly more when in evangelical strongholds than they do with Wall Street and Country Club Republicans. It wasn’t Scripture that Obama was quoting that helped him raise massive funds in Hollywood no more than Romney was telling the story of the rich young ruler to the millionaires at his now infamous Florida fundraiser.
          Without delving in to the content, the title of Jim Wallis’s book says it all: “God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It.” As long as we hold to positions that declare our side is right no matter what, we lose. Regardless of which side you take on any of the culture war issues, there are good people on the other side. Yes, even the issues that seem so open and shut, cut and dry, and that you have a crisp little Scripture to place behind, maybe especially those issues. It is also true that there are forces and influences on both sides of these issues that are suspect and bear watching. This should motivate us, not paralyze us, but let us look as critically at our side of the culture wars as we certainly do our opponents. Spiritually speaking, my friend Charlee refers to the role of God in such exercises of humility as the Giant Mirror. On both sides of these various issues we are so busy attempting to remove that speck from our opponents’ eyes that we fail to see the beam in our own.
          Winston Churchill once acutely observed with penetrating insight that, “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing . . . after they have exhausted all other possibilities." It’s one thing for that to be said of us as Americans, but what is truly mournful is that it could also be said of the church in America. No matter your stance on these significant cultural issues, if you are a follower of Jesus you are first called to love. No matter how sincere, how right, or how justified you may feel in your position, it is meaningless if your viewpoint is not grounded in love. But what about your opponents whose beliefs aren’t rooted in Christ or on your biblical interpretation? Love them anyway. No, love them especially.