In his comments on the first Republican presidential nominee debate, analyst David Bergen noted that the Republican base continues to shift rightward and then concluded, "With the center of the Democratic Party moving left, we seem to be heading into even more partisan and polarized politics. Millions of Americans are yearning for something better." (link)We can add that it's not just in politics that we are yearning to move beyond the culture wars rather than get stuck ever more deeply in them. In organized religion, as well, we yearn for the day when the polarizing debates over abortion, homosexuality, science, and the Bible quiet down. We pray for the day when people of faith can hold to their differences with mutual forbearance and even talk about them sympathetically.
