A House Divided: Six Belief Systems Struggling for America's Soul.

• Author: Slack, Charles

A woman told me recently, "America is headed toward civil war." This was not some wild-eyed, street-corner prophet, but a thoughtful, intelligent, articulate woman, active in the affairs of her community--the sort of person who used to be called, without a trace of irony, "a fine, upstanding citizen." But when she looks around, she said, all she sees is anger. Anger and violence, actual or imminent. There are white supremacists and anti-government militias forming in the hills, dispossessed minorities boiling over in the cities. Voters are frustrated that their votes don't seem to count for anything. Politicians, remote and unresponsive, are off pursuing their own agendas in Washington. And, of course, there are the media, always the media, sensationalizing and trivializing without addressing important issues. "Something," she announced ominously, "has got to give"

Her comments were jarring, coming as they did on one of those sunny, benevolent Sunday mornings when the entire world seems at peace. But such apocalyptic thinking seems to be gaining currency these days, fueled perhaps by the approaching millennium or by the fact that the demise of the Soviet Union has left a void of Big Concerns or, perhaps, by the natural human tendency to mistake one's own mortality for the mortality of the species.

Author Mark Gerzon lays out a scenario for a nation spinning toward chaos in his book, A House Divided: Six Belief Systems Struggling for America's Soul. Gerzon draws a direct analogy between America today and America just before the Civil War. His title is derived from a biblically inspired statement by Abraham Lincoln: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Today the American house is not divided geographically, Gerzon believes. "Rather we are fragmented by conflicting belief systems which turn almost any issue into flashpoints for bitterness, anger, hatred, and often violence. The range and intensity of these disputes has become almost overwhelming With the exception of combating foreign dictatorships, almost no cause commands consensus." He continues: "The media, the courts, the political campaigns--all have become gladiators' arenas. Trust between citizens has been replaced by fear; and the more Americans fear each other, the weaker we become. At a point in history when no nation on earth is powerful enough to defeat us, we may defeat ourselves"

Gerzon identifies six primary "belief systems" that are "fighting for the soul of...