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Students at Stephen Protheros Assembly Series lecture on Thursday dove into the chasm of culture wars and partisan divisions in American politics.

The event, which was sponsored by the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics (DCRP), drew many members of the St. Louis community as well as students. Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University who has previously appeared on The Colbert Report, discussed his research into culture wars, or the conflict between cultural values that are growing more or less prominent in society.

Stephen Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University, speaks about his book on Americas culture wars. The talk was sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics.

Rachel Lindsey, associate director of the DCRP, hoped that the lecture would help members of the University community look beyond the terms conservative and liberal and their usage in society.

I hope that this discussion helps [students] to think outside of the standard categories that are bandied around in media and public discourse, generally without a whole lot of thought behind them, Lindsey said.

Prothero began to study culture wars after the Ground Zero Mosque controversy in 2009-10, in which many people were angered by the potential construction of a mosque at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center buildings. A book by Prothero on the subject is tentatively scheduled to be published in April 2015.

In his speech, Prothero discussed the five main culture wars in U.S. history: the election of 1800in which newly formed political parties clashed over whether to increase or reduce the federal governments powerProtestant opposition to Catholics during the 1830s, Protestant attacks on Mormons during the mid 1800s, the Prohibition era and todays withering of the traditional definition of family values. He provided the context and results for each of these battles and explained why conservatives have always lost the culture wars they have launched.

He noted that todays culture war began with the IRSs attempts to tax segregation academies, or white-only private schools, to combat the Supreme Courts Brown v. Board of Education decision. He also claimed that conservatives have taken issues of race and converted them to arguments about family values and religions.

Prothero touched on other aspects of the modern culture war as well, including the controversial Roe v. Wade court case that allowed women to get abortions, the Pledge of Allegiance, same-sex marriage and Islam. He foresees the family values aspect of todays war coming to an end in around five to 10 years, but he added that the issues of race and religion will continue for years to come.

Lindsey planned the lecture and said the DCRP had brought Prothero to campus because of his extensive experience with religion and politics.

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Assembly Series speaker discusses culture wars, modern partisan politics