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With Barack Obama's election last November, many pundits are already predicting an end to the culture wars. In just a few years, these commentators argue we will no longer be rehashing old fights about gay marriage and abortion. I think they're mistaken.
It should be acknowledged that these commentators have a point on gay marriage. A CNN poll found that among those aged 18-34, 58% support gay marriage. As this age group begins to make up a larger share of voters, it is inevitable that states will continue to legalize gay marriage as New England has already done. Even young evangelicals are likely to support some form of recognition for gay couples. Within 20 years, gay marriage may indeed no longer be an issue.
But that consensus is NOT evolving on abortion. Far from becoming more pro-choice, the nation at the moment is becoming more pro-life. A Gallup poll this year found that for the first time in years, more people self-identified as pro-life than pro-choice, 51% to 42%. To provide context to how significant these numbers are, this is the first time pro-lifers held a majority on this question since the poll started in 1995.
The fact that voters elected a staunchly pro-choice President doesn't necessarily indicate their acceptance of his views. Americans simply weren't focusing on cultural issues because of the financial crisis. They made the decision that they can argue about abortion when they can pay their mortgage and they have a secure job again. And when the economy does improve, I predict those issues will again command much attention.
The reason is that abortion goes to fundamental impulses among citizens in our Democracy. Compared to other Western countries, the United States is a deeply religious place. Going to a place of worship regularly does not mean that one is always pro-life, but at the very least, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all teach that life is sacred. That is to say that religious people will most likely see a moral dimension to abortion, instead of simply an issue of women's rights.
And as long as so many people receive the message that life is sacred and believe Jeremiah's declaration that "before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart," there will continue to be a substantial number of people opposed to abortion no matter what.
True, the upcoming generation is on average less religious than the preceding ones-though still quite religious compared to counterparts in Europe. Yet people in this generation are as pro-life as their parents if not more so. This shows that there are profound ethical questions abortion raises even absent from religion.
When does human life begin? At what stages does a baby deserve to be afforded basic rights? What does it say about our society that over one million abortions happen each year? Is it acceptable to abort a fetus that could be viable outside of the womb as third trimester abortions do?
Aside from morality, the abortion issue goes directly to the heart of what we think the proper role of government is. Should the government fund abortion in the US, or overseas? Should it be acceptable for individual states to ban abortion in some or most cases? How far should we interpret a right to privacy? Roe vs. Wade may have settled these questions legally, but it didn't do so morally or politically.
These are difficult questions and people of goodwill can and do disagree obviously. But it is just inevitable that there will be conflict over the answers to these questions because they are so thorny, and so consequential.
This all makes one thing clear: the culture wars we shall have with us always.
