The back-up band played softly as the Christian entertainer with a wireless microphone introduced a song about the "upside-down" values of our culture.

"The life of a tree," he emphasized, "is not more important than the life of an unborn baby." With that the banquet hall exploded with emotion and applause.

His words, of course, were a jab—a political statement based on moral values. They are the words of war, according to James Davison Hunter, and the conflicts over abortion and the environment are only two of many fronts. In his recent book, Culture Wars, Hunter, professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, was among the first to characterize America's angry divisions over abortion, homosexual rights, public education, and the definition of the family as a war. Critically acclaimed by religious and secular critics alike, this book has been quoted or reviewed in The Washington Post, The New Republic, and The New York Times, as well ...