Moral Combat

How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics

By: R. Marie Griffith

Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin

Gay marriage, transgender rights, birth control - sex is at the heart of many of the most divisive political issues of our age. The origins of these conflicts, historian R. Marie Griffith argues, lie in sharp disagreements that emerged among American Christians a century ago. From the 1920s onward, a once-solid Christian consensus regarding gender roles and sexual morality began to crumble, as liberal Protestants sparred with fundamentalists and Catholics over questions of obscenity, sex education, and abortion. Both those who advocated for greater openness in sexual matters and those who resisted new sexual norms turned to politics to pursue their moral visions for the nation. Moral Combat is a history of how the Christian consensus on sex unraveled, and how this unraveling has made our political battles over sex so ferocious and so intractable. 

©2017 R. Marie Griffith (P)2017 Tantor

Required Reading

Griffith's account of the previous century's sexual politics is required reading to understand current affairs.

Very thorough

A lot of good information here. The author’s bias is clear but she is more than fair. The narrator has a rhythm to her speech that was annoying to me. I could plainly hear every syllable, which I appreciate and do not take for granted. But it got on my nerves to hear every word punctuated.