Abstract
This compelling and well-documented volume will be of value to anyone seeking to understand what has happened with the dramatic changes that have occurred within the culture wars in America. There has been a major shift in how conservatives have pitched their message and supported their position in major battlefronts in the culture wars. Whereas social liberals in recent decades have successfully supported their positions on abortion, gay rights and other causes using the rubric of human and civil rights, the tables have been turned in recent times. Now conservatives, instead of basing their arguments concerning major issues on moral claims, are using rights rhetoric to support their causes, and doing so with some success.
Lewis documents with considerable detail major historical milestones as this shift has occurred, presenting little known and unappreciated information on how specific institutional structures within the evangelical community have developed evolving positions on issues such as abortion and gay rights. Particularly the battle over abortion has been the lynchpin and catalyst for the shift from a morals’ based approach to one focused on rights. Instead of arguing that abortion is wrong on strictly moral grounds, those supporting an anti-abortion agenda have adopted a “pro-life” position, asserting that they are seeking to protect the right to life of an unborn child. Thus the arguments over abortion and other controversial issues are now being fought on a rights battlefield, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of this newly developed strategy, as well as the dilemma posed by such clash of rights cases for the courts and other decision makers.
The dilemma can be illustrated by the following questions and court decisions. Does a woman have an unfettered right to terminate a pregnancy for reasons personal to herself, and does that right trump the right of an unborn child to life? Does a baker have a right to express personal religious freedom by refusing to sell products to a gay couple, or does the gay couple's right to be treated equally to others seeking to wed take precedent? These and many other questions being faced by legislators and courts have become much more difficult to resolve since both sides are now making rights based claims. Such claims have been carrying the day in past decades (even with close votes in the Supreme Court) as they have been effectively promoted by those on the liberal side of social issues. Hence we have Roe v. Wade granting a woman's right to decide on abortion and more recently we have Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) granting gays the right to marry. But, we also have Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014) which in a ground-breaking decision (also 5-4) granted religious freedom rights to a corporation whose owners did not want to abide by requirements concerning contraception insurance coverage for employees.
The evolution to rights based arguments by social religious conservative groups was not easy or rapid. Indeed Lewis documents many internal battles within conservative religious circles about how to approach issues important to those groups. Abortion became the major battle ground where the arguments were honed then were infused into other aspects of the social conservative agenda. For example, Lewis’ documents the many machinations within the evangelical community, and especially the Southern Baptist denomination's institutional structure, and his efforts are well worth the cost of the book. He also offers much detail on the joining forces of Catholics with Protestant evangelicals, groups with long-standing theological debates, over the issue of abortion.
Additionally, the volume discusses why many (most?) evangelicals ended up opposing President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act (2010). Again the major catalyst was abortion, and the fact that the Act required coverage for some contraception services that were opposed by many conservative religious groups. Thus, although many religious groups and denominations had in the past supported various efforts to make more health care available to those less well off in our society, that support dissipated or became outright opposition over the abortion issue.
A major strength of the volume is its heavy dependence on data and research. Every chapter is replete with data offered to illustrate points being made about differences between and among significant categories of religious groups and also comparing such groupings with the general population. The data clearly demonstrate as well the changes that have occurred in recent decades in beliefs and attitudes of religious leaders and the rank and file in various religious groups. All social scientists will find this use of research and data of considerable value, and is just one of the reasons I heartedly recommend this important volume to scholars interested in understanding the role of religion in contemporary American politics.