Yes, we may agree on the principles (secular humanism and liberalism, for instance), but what I mean to suggest is that principles can have unintentional consequences. Liberalism is supposed to strengthen us, as we're liberated to speak our minds. But maybe there's such a thing as too much freedom, so we clamp down in a culture war between tribes or social classes. Liberalism can turn into a kind of decadence, just as Christianity turned into the decadence of a corrupt medieval Church.

I've written that follow-up article, and I'll try to post it next week. It's tentatively called "Western Decadence and the Irony of Social Progress."