Editing Culture war (section)

====1991–2001: Rise in prominence====
[[James Davison Hunter]], a [[sociologist]] at the [[University of Virginia]], introduced the expression again in his 1991 publication, ''[[Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America]]''. Hunter described what he saw as a dramatic realignment and polarization that had transformed [[politics of the United States|American politics]] and [[American culture|culture]]. He argued that on an increasing number of "[[Hot-button issue|hot-button]]" defining issues—[[abortion]], [[gun politics]], [[separation of church and state]], [[privacy]], [[recreational drug use]], [[homosexuality]], [[censorship]]—there existed two definable polarities. Furthermore, not only were there a number of divisive issues, but society had divided along essentially the same lines on these issues, so as to constitute two warring groups, defined primarily not by nominal religion, ethnicity, social class, or even political affiliation, but rather by ideological [[world-view]]s. Hunter characterized this polarity as stemming from opposite impulses, toward what he referred to as ''Progressivism'' and as ''Orthodoxy''. Others have adopted the dichotomy with varying labels. For example, [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], a conservative political commentator and former host of the [[Fox News Channel]] talk show ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'', emphasizes differences between "Secular-Progressives" and "Traditionalists" in his 2006 book ''[[Culture Warrior]]''.<ref>Brian Dakss,
[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-oreillys-culture-warrior/ "Bill O'Reilly's 'Culture Warrior'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213000253/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-oreillys-culture-warrior/ |date=December 13, 2020 }},
''CBS News'',
December 5, 2006.
Retrieved March 27, 2020.</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = O'Reilly
| first = Bill
| author-link = Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)
| title = Culture Warrior
| publisher = [[Broadway Books]]
| location = New York
| date = September 2006
| isbn = 0-7679-2092-9}}</ref>

Historian [[Kristin Kobes Du Mez]] attributes the 1990s emergence of culture wars to the end of the [[Cold War]] in 1991. She writes that [[Evangelical Christians]] viewed a particular Christian masculine [[gender role]] as the only defense of America against the threat of [[communism]]. When this threat ended upon the close of the Cold War, Evangelical leaders transferred the perceived source of threat from foreign communism to domestic changes in gender roles and sexuality.<ref>{{cite news |last=Illing |first=Sean |date=July 9, 2020 |title=Is evangelical support for Trump a contradiction? |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/9/21291493/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-kristin-kobes-du-mez |work=Vox |access-date=July 9, 2020 |archive-date=June 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616155249/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/9/21291493/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-kristin-kobes-du-mez |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Patrickjbuchanan.JPG|thumb|left|180px|Pat Buchanan in 2008]]
During the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 presidential election]], commentator [[Pat Buchanan]] mounted [[Pat Buchanan#1992 presidential primaries|a campaign]] for the [[1992 Republican Party presidential primaries|Republican nomination for president]] against incumbent [[George H. W. Bush]]. In a [[Prime time|prime]]-[[time slot]] at the [[1992 Republican National Convention]], Buchanan gave his speech on the culture war.<ref>{{cite web |quote=Not since Pat Buchanan's famous 'culture war' speech in 1992 has a major speaker at a national political convention spoken so hatefully, at such length, about the opposition. |title=Dogs of War |url=http://www.newdonkey.com/2004/09/dogs-of-war.html |url-status=usurped |publisher=New Donkey |date=September 2, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308043424/http://www.newdonkey.com/2004/09/dogs-of-war.html |archive-date=March 8, 2005 |access-date=August 29, 2006}}</ref> He argued: "There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself."<ref name="1992-GOP">{{Cite speech |author-link=Patrick Buchanan |first=Patrick |last=Buchanan |title=1992 Republican National Convention Speech |date=August 17, 1992 |url=http://buchanan.org/blog/1992-republican-national-convention-speech-148 |access-date=November 3, 2014 |archive-date=December 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208185713/https://buchanan.org/blog/1992-republican-national-convention-speech-148 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition to criticizing [[Environmental movement in the United States|environmentalists]] and [[Feminism in the United States|feminism]], he portrayed [[public morality]] as a [[defining issue]]:

<blockquote>The agenda [Bill] Clinton and [Hillary] Clinton would impose on America—abortion on demand, a [[Litmus test (politics)|litmus test]] for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat units—that's change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can abide in a nation that we still call God's country.<ref name="1992-GOP" />
</blockquote>

A month later, Buchanan characterized the conflict as about power over society's definition of right and wrong. He named abortion, sexual orientation and popular culture as major fronts—and mentioned other controversies, including clashes over the [[Confederate flag]], Christmas, and taxpayer-funded art. He also said that the negative attention his "culture war" speech received was itself evidence of America's polarization.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://buchanan.org/blog/the-cultural-war-for-the-soul-of-america-149 |title=The Cultural War for the Soul of America |last=Buchanan |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Buchanan |access-date=March 6, 2015 |archive-date=March 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317033220/http://buchanan.org/blog/the-cultural-war-for-the-soul-of-america-149 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The culture war had significant impact on national politics in the 1990s.<ref name="Andrew Hartman 2015">Andrew Hartman, ''A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars'' (University of Chicago Press, 2015)</ref> The rhetoric of the [[Christian Coalition of America]] may have weakened president George H. W. Bush's chances for re-election in 1992 and helped his successor, [[Bill Clinton]], win reelection in 1996.<ref name="Chávez 2010">{{cite book |last=Chávez |first=Karma R. |editor-last=Chapman |editor-first=Roger |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices, Volume 1 |date=2010 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=Armonk, N.Y. |isbn=978-0-7656-1761-3 |page=88 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/culturewarsencyc0000unse/page/88/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=Christian Coalition}}</ref> On the other hand, the rhetoric of conservative cultural warriors helped Republicans gain control of Congress in 1994.<ref name="Benedic 2010">{{cite book |last1=Benedic |first1=Diane |last2=Rising |first2=George |editor-last=Chapman |editor-first=Roger |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices, Volume 1 |date=2010 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=Armonk, N.Y. |isbn=978-0-7656-1761-3 |page=136 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/culturewarsencyc0000unse/page/136/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=Democratic Party}}</ref> The culture wars influenced the debate over [[State school|state-school]] history [[Curriculum|curricula]] in the United States in the 1990s. In particular, debates over the development of [[Standards-based education reform in the United States|national educational standards]] in 1994 revolved around whether the study of American history should be a "celebratory" or "critical" undertaking and involved such prominent public figures as [[Lynne Cheney]], [[Rush Limbaugh]], and historian [[Gary Nash]].<ref>{{google book |title=Who Owns History: Rethinking the Past in a Changing World |last=Foner |first=Eric |id=H3I-Z8KW5REC |location=New York |publisher=Hill & Wang |year=2002 |isbn=1-4299-2392-X}}</ref><ref>{{google book |title=History on Trial: Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past |last1=Nash |first1=Gary B. |authorlink1=Gary B. Nash |last2=Crabtree |first2=Charlotte A. |last3=Dunn |first3=Ross E. |authorlink=Ross E. Dunn |id=iE1DzmHrh9EC |location=New York |publisher=Knopf |year=1997 |isbn=0-679-76750-9}}</ref>