Increasing rigidity around our political and religious beliefs is why recent polls are showing that the number of individuals who describes themselves as political moderates is decreasing while the percentage that describes themselves as either conservative or liberal is increasing.
The problems we are facing, and our instinctive responses to them, are causing us to become more and more polarized. That is why the US Congress can’t get its act together. That is why the president refuses to listen to his military advisor’s and surrounds himself with those who agree with him. That is why churches are splitting apart in response to issues around gay marriage, abortion, and the ordination of members of the LGBTQ community. That is why capitalists are at war with socialists, and environmentalists are at war with capitalism.