Opinion | Recalibrating culture wars in age of Trump

In many ways, the American cultural landscape resembles two towering cliffs on opposite sides of a vast canyon. On one side of the chasm stand religious, cultural, and political liberals, and on the other, their conservative counterparts.

Another metaphor often used to describe these divisions employs language of armed conflict. Traditionalists and progressives don’t just disagree; they are actively fighting against each other in a series of battles known as the "culture wars."

The culture wars thesis has been around for several decades, typically pitting those who stress the importance of right belief and individual responsibility against those who stress the relativity of belief and the need to reform social systems.

Religion has factored prominently into analysis of the culture wars, not just as a category of belonging, but as a source of moral reasoning. The Trump presidency, however, begs the question of whether the culture wars have much to do with religion in this second sense.

The culture wars have historically been demarcated more by religious worldview than by identity markers such as ethnicity, class, religious affiliation, or political party. But the contemporary scene is just the reverse.

Religious reasoning has not disappeared from the rhetorical weaponry of the culture wars, but it is often used as cover for promoting identity politics or elevating interest groups. People still bring their deepest values to the public square, but those values are increasingly tribal.

It is in this context that an overwhelming majority of white evangelicals cast their vote for a man whose values are difficult to square with the ethics of Jesus, but who promised to protect the interests of American conservative Christians.

It is also in this context that people of color, immigrants, non-Christians, and folks who identify as LGBTQ largely find themselves on the other side of the cultural matrix from white evangelicals.

A standoff between various social groups in our society will ultimately produce no winners. Culture wars bring out the worst in many who wage them while failing to bring about lasting positive change in society.

They also further alienate people whose marginalized status all but ensures that gaining power over others will not be a successful strategy for promoting their wellbeing.

As a descriptive category for understanding what is going on in our country, culture war theorizing has not lost its relevance or utility. But as a prescription for Christian cultural engagement, culture war rhetoric needs to be retired.

Christians should recover a vision for society that moves beyond self-interest to the common good, and beyond Christianity as a belief system, moral code, or constituency to Christianity as a path of transformative love.

The culture wars are a symptom of a larger problem of Christians failing to take their faith seriously not just as a personal boon but as a call to self-transcendence—a call to love God and neighbor, and to participate in God’s reign of justice and peace.

Janel Kragt Bakker, Ph.D. is assistant professor of Mission, Evangelism and Culture at Memphis Theological Seminary, and author of "Sister Churches: American Congregations and their Partners Abroad."

Bakker will deliver the Bowen Lecture Series at 7:30 p.m. Monday and 11:15 a.m. Tuesday at Lindenwood Christian Church, 2400 Union. The lectures are free and open to the public.