"In this highly partisan year, we did not see a sharpening of the battles over religion and culture," writes E.J. Dionne Jr. for the Washington Post. "Yes, we continued to fight over gay marriage, and arguments about abortion were a feature of the health-care debate. But what's more striking is that other issues -- notably the role of government and economics -- trumped culture and religion in the public square. The culture wars went into recession along with the economy." READ MORE.