Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars

(Even When They Lose Elections)

The Battles That Define America from
Jefferson's Heresies to Gay Marriage
Stephen Prothero
Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections) by Stephen
Prothero. Copyright © 2016 by Stephen Prothero. Published by arrangement with
HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
336 pages
[@] getab.li/26266
Book:

Rating Take-Aways

8
8 Importance • America’s “culture wars” have followed predictable patterns throughout history.
9 Innovation • Culture wars spring from “anxiety” and grow into “moral, religious and cultural”
8 Style arguments about the “meaning of America” and who qualifies as a citizen.

• Conservatives usually start culture wars; liberals fire back and ultimately win.
  • The 1800 election, America’s first culture war, provided a template for the future as
Focus federalists blasted Jefferson as insufficiently Christian for the presidency.

• Anti-Catholicism sprang up before the Civil War in defense of Protestant America.

Leadership & Management
Strategy • Anti-Mormonism flared in opposition to polygamy, but the question of slavery
Sales & Marketing
complicated the argument.
Finance • Prohibition was a conservative defense of family values against alcohol and represented
Human Resources an attempt to beat back 1920s modernity.
IT, Production & Logistics
• The contemporary culture wars began with a right-wing Christian backlash against
Career & Self-Development
federal desegregation orders that challenged religious private schools before moving on
Small Business to “family values.”
Economics & Politics
Industries
• Today’s culture wars led to significant defeats for conservatives.
Global Business • Americans tired of polarization and culture wars should listen to both sides instead of
Concepts & Trends demonizing one or the other.

To purchase personal subscriptions or corporate solutions, visit our website at www.getAbstract.com, send an email to info@getabstract.com, or call us at our US office (1-877-778-6627) or at our Swiss office
(+41-41-367-5151). getAbstract is an Internet-based knowledge rating service and publisher of book abstracts. getAbstract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this abstract. getAbstract
acknowledges the copyrights of authors and publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this abstract may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, photocopying or otherwise –
without prior written permission of getAbstract Ltd. (Switzerland).

This document is restricted to the personal use of Ernie Bornheimer (ernie.bornheimer@hpe.com) 1 of 5

LoginContext[cu=3260838,ssoId=1457428,asp=5751,subs=3,free=0,lo=en,co=US] 2017-05-19 02:16:19 CEST

getabstract

getabstract
Relevance
getabstract
What You Will Learn
In this summary, you will learn:r1) What “culture wars” Americans have waged against each other since the dawn of
the republic, 2) What patterns culture wars routinely follow and 3) Why conservatives historically lose culture wars.
getabstract
Review
“Culture wars” are almost as old as the American republic. The bitter election of 1800, with the Democratic-
Republicans of Thomas Jefferson on the left and John Adams’s Federalists on the right, was only the beginning. In
subsequent years, American conservatives and liberals argued about religious discrimination and alcohol long before
their contemporary culture wars over abortion, civil rights, feminists and homosexuals. Stephen Prothero, a professor
of religion at Boston University, sums it all up. Trivia buffs may find a few small miscues. For instance, most 1920s
movies weren’t “talkies.” Nonetheless, Prothero proves highly readable and thought provoking. Voicing a strong
historic point of view, he doesn’t let modern political correctness water down his descriptions of past conflicts. While
always politically neutral, getAbstract recommends his overview for its valuable historical context and suggests it
to anyone who’s had enough of the culture wars.
getabstract
getabstract

getabstract
Summary
getabstract
What Makes a “Culture War”?
America’s modern culture wars are nothing new. The United States has “a long story of
cultural conflict” that began around the time its first president, George Washington, left
office. Each culture war follows a similar pattern. Almost all of these conflicts spring from
conservative roots and culminate in liberal wins.
getabstract
“The real combatants
in America’s culture
America’s culture wars share these features:
wars are conservatives
and liberals.” • They are “public disputes” that citizens conduct on a national stage.
getabstract
• They spring from “anxiety” and grow into “moral, religious and cultural” debates.
• They breed arguments about the “meaning of America” and who qualifies as a citizen.
• They are impassioned, and they conjure images of armed combat.
• Conservatives usually start them, even though their cause may already be hopeless.
• They follow this pattern: “The Right strikes out, the Left strikes back.” They reach “some
sort of accommodation” and “in the fourth stage, liberals win.”

Five culture wars stand out in American history:

getabstract
“Jefferson’s first 1. The Election of 1800
inaugural address…
nudged America’s The nation’s first culture war revolved around the unusually contentious, ugly presidential
first culture war cycle election of 1800, known as “America’s second revolution.” George Washington, a
beyond attack and
counterattack into the nonpartisan figure of harmony, had passed from the stage. Two political parties faced each
stage of compromise other in his wake: the Democratic-Republicans of Thomas Jefferson on the left and John
and negotiation.”
getabstract Adams’s Federalists, the incumbents, on the right.

The recent bloody revolution in France loomed over the proceedings, with the Federalists
viewing the Jeffersonians as offering a “gateway” to antiestablishment terror. Jefferson’s
partisans, in turn, believed Adams and his allies were willing to replace “liberty and

Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections)                                                                                                                     getAbstract © 2016 2 of 5
This document is restricted to the personal use of Ernie Bornheimer (ernie.bornheimer@hpe.com)

LoginContext[cu=3260838,ssoId=1457428,asp=5751,subs=3,free=0,lo=en,co=US] 2017-05-19 02:16:19 CEST

 democracy with aristocracy and monarchy.” The election served as a template for future
American culture wars.

While Federalists always found Jefferson suspect, by 1800 his character was the
getabstract
“In the election of election’s biggest question. Conservatives questioned his religion. Alexander Hamilton
1800, we hear in and others accused him of atheism, a serious charge when Americans embraced religion
Jefferson’s despisers
a new voice: the voice as the principal source of society’s structure and regarded the US as “the New Israel.”
of modern American Jeffersonians – the era’s liberals – fought back, asserting that the Federalists’ love of big
conservatism.”
getabstract government reflected a fundamental mistrust of the citizenry. After Jefferson dramatically
won the election, which initially ended in an electoral college tie, he offered an olive branch
in his first inaugural address, reassuring his opponents by saying, “Every difference of
opinion is not a difference of principle.” The nation settled down, but arguments about the
Constitution and American identity simmered under the surface.

2. The Pre–Civil War Campaign Against Catholics

Today, Catholics play important roles in US leadership and government, and their religion
is seldom a matter of public discussion. But in 1834, an anti-Catholic culture war erupted in
getabstract
“Like many social New England and spread through the country, springing from Jacksonian politics. Workers
movements, anti- rioted, protesting that immigrants from Ireland would take their jobs.
Catholicism burned
hottest just before it
flamed out.” This was the time of the “Second Great Awakening,” a period of great enthusiasm
getabstract
for religion that featured new Protestant branches, like the Baptist and Methodist
churches. Prominent clergymen preached against Rome, which to them seemed alien
to traditional American Protestantism. These ministers exhorted their congregations to
“reclaim their country.” Riled-up mobs stormed and destroyed a Catholic convent in
Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Those who opposed the anti-Catholic movement had a different viewpoint. They believed
America’s strength lay in diversity, that it should welcome other cultures and religions, and
getabstract
“The anti-Mormon that singling out a religious group, in this case, Catholics, for hatred was “un-American to
wars were more bitter the core.” Conservative opposition to Catholicism remained stiff. Although the Founding
and bloody than the
anti-Catholic wars…
Fathers crafted a government boasting religious freedom with no litmus test of religion for
But the Mormon political office, public suspicion of Rome ran deep. Protestants became uneasy about the
counterattack was threat they perceived from Catholicism. Popular novels reinforced negative perceptions,
fiercer, too.”
getabstract and conservatives drew parallels between fighting against the Catholic Church and fighting
against Britain in the Revolution.

The Philadelphia Bible Riots of 1844 – which resulted from a dispute about which version
of the Bible children would learn in school – and other, subsequent riots turned the country
against anti-Catholicism for a while. Rioting renewed in the 1850s, and a new political
party arose, the Know-Nothings – anti-Catholic nativists. The Know-Nothings reached their
getabstract
“To those who reveled pinnacle in the election of 1856, but faltered afterward when the country blamed them
in them, the glory of the for years of anti-Catholic upheaval. “The argument for liberty and inclusion eventually
1920s was that things
were changing. But to
prevailed,” after Catholics distinguished themselves in two world wars and after a Catholic,
those who reviled them, John F. Kennedy, won the presidency in 1960.
the problem was that
things were moving too
fast, and in the wrong 3. The 19th-Century Movement Against Mormons
direction.” Mormons seemed even more alien to Americans than Catholics, and the Mormon Church
getabstract
became the focal point of an even more emotional culture war. Mormonism arose during the
Second Great Awakening, thanks to its founder Joseph Smith and his successor Brigham
Young. It was not just another branch of Protestantism. Mormons supplemented a literal

Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections)                                                                                                                     getAbstract © 2016 3 of 5
This document is restricted to the personal use of Ernie Bornheimer (ernie.bornheimer@hpe.com)

LoginContext[cu=3260838,ssoId=1457428,asp=5751,subs=3,free=0,lo=en,co=US] 2017-05-19 02:16:19 CEST

 interpretation of the Bible with their own text, The Book of Mormon. This separate text
and Mormonism’s view of the US as a “wicked nation” helped make it a target for
unparalleled persecution.
getabstract
“Americans’ Anti-Mormonism began slowly and locally. By the 1840s, rioting in Missouri and Illinois
understanding of culminated in Smith’s murder. The Mormons fled west to Utah, where they temporarily
religious liberty has
evolved over time, found peace until the Compromise of 1850. After that, anti-Mormonism went national.
largely as a result of the
culture wars.”
getabstract The primary issue sparking this culture war was the Mormon practice of polygamy,
which Mormons defended on the basis of religious liberty. Conservatives ramped up
an anti-polygamy panic, positioning Mormons “as a threat to a still-fragile republic.”
The conservatives’ argument suffered from the concurrent national debate over extending
slavery to new US territories.

Opponents feared that combating polygamy in Utah “might justify meddling with the
domestic arrangements of slaveholders” in the South. Indeed, federal steps against the
getabstract
“American once again “institution of polygamy did prepare the way for federal interference with…slavery.”
considered whether Tensions mounted as President James Buchanan declared Utah was “in rebellion” and
the United States was
a secular nation or a armed Mormons killed 120 people in the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre. The Civil
Christian one, and if War interrupted national efforts against polygamy, but the culture war against the Mormons
Christian, what manner
of Christian should it returned in the 1880s.
be.”
getabstract
Anti-Mormonists objected to polygamy and to the Mormon concept of “theocracy,” thus
questioning – as conservatives did of Catholics – the Mormons’ allegiance to the republic.
Polygamy was equally objectionable, they claimed, because it was a dictatorship over
women. Mormons based their defense on religious liberty, asserting that their beliefs
merited protection under the Constitution. The US Supreme Court ruled against them, and
Congress followed with a law excluding Mormons from holding public office or serving
on juries. The battles ended only when the Mormons, in 1890, agreed to forbid polygamy.
getabstract
Mormons eventually assimilated into society and gained power in mainstream America.
“Despite GOP electoral
gains in the Reagan
era, conservatives did
4. Prohibition
feel ‘dispossessed by America’s next culture war made it into the Constitution as the 18th amendment banning
change’.” alcohol. It took effect in January 1920. This war was not solely against drinking. It was
getabstract
between “pluralists” and “exclusivists,” the young and old, and those who championed
traditional beliefs in the work ethic and self-discipline versus Jazz Agers who just wanted
to have fun.

The “dry” movement first emerged from concern for family welfare. Prohibition’s boosters
were fundamentally conservative and religious. Those who opposed Prohibition were
getabstract liberals who believed people had the right to drink if they wanted and who questioned
“Conservative
Christians joined the whether the government should intervene in private behavior.
perennial battle over
the one and the many
– the battle between
Before temperance advocates set out to pass laws prohibiting alcohol, they attempted
those who believe the to convince people to avoid it. When that campaign proved ineffective, states began to
alternative to a unified pass “dry” laws, a process that picked up speed after the Civil War. By 1914, the issue
society is chaos and
those who embrace reached the US House, whose members were keenly aware that in many communities, “the
pluralism as a positive saloon…doubled as a polling place.” Anti-Prohibitionists decried the dry movement as an
good.”
getabstract autocratic plot to legislate public morals and proper behavior. The drys responded with the
Jeffersonian concept of states’ rights. In 1917, Congress passed the 18th amendment. The
requisite number of states ratified it in 1919.

Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections)                                                                                                                     getAbstract © 2016 4 of 5
This document is restricted to the personal use of Ernie Bornheimer (ernie.bornheimer@hpe.com)

LoginContext[cu=3260838,ssoId=1457428,asp=5751,subs=3,free=0,lo=en,co=US] 2017-05-19 02:16:19 CEST

 This culture war ended in the early 1930s with the repeal of the amendment. Prohibition
failed to achieve its goals for many reasons: It drove otherwise law-abiding people to break
the law. It boosted organized crime and corrupted law enforcement, and it attempted to
establish one view of moral behavior as national law.
getabstract
“Part of the genius of 5. Contemporary Culture Wars
the [US Constitution] In the 1970s, the precursors of today’s cultural conservatism fought racial desegregation
was its equivocation,
which was both a and other issues left over from the tumultuous 1960s. In the late 1970s, the Internal
product of compromise Revenue Service threatened to revoke Christian schools’ tax exemption if they refused to
and a model for more
to come. [This] all
admit black students. That threat jump-started right-wing evangelicals’ engagement in the
but commanded future contemporary cultural wars. They saw the legalization of abortion in 1973 as another blow.
conflict, including the
Civil War itself.”
getabstract The Religious Right organized under the banner of the Moral Majority. Groups like the
American Family Association and Concerned Women for America believed the government
was trying to force “secular humanism” on conservative Christians. Though race was the
early catalyst, the movement quickly pivoted from “race to religion” and from “race to
family” values.

Liberals accused the Moral Majority of threatening “liberty, liberal arts education and
getabstract religious pluralism.” The conflict moved to college campuses, where intellectuals like E.D.
“The contemporary
culture wars began Hirsch and Allan Bloom debated “traditional” versus “progressive” ideas and the dangers
in the fight over the of “relativism.” Left-wingers found conservative curricula narrow and racist. They felt it
sixties, not in the 1960s
themselves. And that portrayed an America that right-wingers viewed with wistful longing. This culture war
fight did not begin until reached new heights in the arts community, where works like Piss Christ by Andres Serrano
the Right started to
protest.”
and Robert Mapplethorpe’s erotic photographs repulsed conservatives and inspired them to
getabstract cut federal support for the arts.

The culture wars continued through the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, as
the right and the left clashed over Clinton’s personal conduct, gays in the military, marriage
equality and Islam after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Once again, the right largely
lost: Clinton weathered impeachment; Congress repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”; and, in
2015, the Supreme Court “made marriage equality the law of the land.”

getabstract America’s culture wars will likely continue. The right wing thrives in churches and media.
“We can refuse to
excommunicate our But as the nation moved appreciatively to the left on social issues, the traditional American
antagonists from the defense of religious liberty – traditionally a liberal cause – became the rallying cry of
American family. We
can turn our culture conservatives opposed to homosexual rights. Today, even the national budget, a once
wars into cultural bipartisan project, suffers polarization and bitter conflict.
debates.”
getabstract
Can America turn down the volume on the culture wars? Yes it can, but only by refusing “to
coerce people into tolerance,” says writer Andrew Sullivan. People on both sides should
resolve to hear one another instead of arguing. Americans should refuse to demonize each
other or to cast all issues as do-or-die conflicts “between patriots and traitors.”
getabstract
getabstract
getabstract
getabstract

getabstract
About the Author
getabstract
Boston University professor Stephen Prothero also wrote God Is Not One and Religious Literacy.

Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections)                                                                                                                     getAbstract © 2016 5 of 5
This document is restricted to the personal use of Ernie Bornheimer (ernie.bornheimer@hpe.com)

LoginContext[cu=3260838,ssoId=1457428,asp=5751,subs=3,free=0,lo=en,co=US] 2017-05-19 02:16:19 CEST