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No one else has something for me to offer Jack Handy thoughts on this morning?
Really bad idea I'm playing with right now: Given our emerging consensus that politics is replacing religion as the dividing line of society, and taking on many of the same functions, perhaps we should try to formalize it and create an Ecumenical Political Church, espousing a very vague and general set of principles to bound the acceptable limits of politics, that recognizes the fundamental tension of politics and is maximally inclusive.
Left and right, male and female, white and black, rich and poor, oligarchy vs. monarchy, freedom vs. order, light and dark, etc. Being a politically sophisticated person means being able to articulate fully the fundamental forces behind these human tensions that form our society. It means understanding that there is no "right side of history", no perfect past to retVrn to. It means accepting that progress and change are both inevitable and not inevitably positive. Liberalism and conservatism, or whatever they call the social division of your society, exist because they are both partially right and partially wrong. Good and bad, strengths and weaknesses. Our personal political ideology can sit anywhere, based on our read of what direction the country or world needs to move. But we should all at least respect that the politics of others come from the same forces and choices that produce our own. And do our best to solve our issues peacefully and productively.
Politics is disgusting, but it is the most preferable way of working out our differences. Come join the most holy church of venal lawyers and unprincipled hacks. Let's all have a bit more fun with it. The tenor of politics should be more college football than eternal Poland 1939. True believers are suckers. Cynicism will set you free!
Aren't churches only ecumenical these days as a result of a fall in tensions, perhaps as a result in the fall in importance of religion in society in general? The ecumenical church of politics will happen only when something else becomes important enough to serve as the dividing line.
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