Damon Linker on ending the Culture War

I found this on one of the TNR blogs.

Money quotes:

Some Americans believe that an abortion is an act of lethal violence against an innocent human being whose rights (like everyone else's) should be protected by the state. Other Americans believe that the only legally relevant moral considerations in an abortion are the wishes of the pregnant woman -- which of course presumes that the fetus is not a human being in need of protection against lethal violence. These are contrary and incompatible metaphysical assumptions about matters of life and death and human dignity. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court declared that the fundamental law of the United States affirms the position of the second group and rejects the views of the first. On that day, the Constitution ceased to be neutral on this matter of metaphysics.

Just before this succinct statement of the problem, Linker offers this observation:

Public opinion data tell us that each generation is more open to and accepting of the dignity of gay relationships than the one before it.