Obama must work for compromise in U.S. culture war

By Ed Stoddard - Analysis

DALLAS (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama hopes to reach across the political divide, but the uproar over the preachers at his inauguration celebrations show just how wide some of those divisions are in America.

Some gay rights activists have expressed outrage at Obama's choice of California pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation prayer at his inauguration on Tuesday because of Warren's opposition to gay marriage. And some conservatives are up in arms over openly gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson's role in an earlier part of the celebrations.

But political analysts and activists say many Americans appear weary of the "culture war" battles over issues like gay marriage, and Obama may find some safe ground in the middle.

"There is an opening for a middle ground because people are becoming a bit tired of religious extremists and ideological extremists," said Mathew Schmalz, who teaches religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Many polls before November's election suggested that culture issues like abortion were becoming less important to American voters, even before the financial crisis hit.

A Pew Research Center survey in August found that abortion was important to the way that 39 percent of the electorate would vote compared to 47 percent in August of 2004.

But such issues remain flashpoints for some.

When he announced that Warren would give the main prayer at the inauguration, Obama angered people in the gay and lesbian community, a key base for his Democratic Party.