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It’s gotten ugly out there in the public square—on television, at public meetings, on the Internet.

Whether it’s health-care reform specifically or politics generally, it is common to see people demonizing each other, shouting each other down and gleefully circulating vicious e-mail messages distorting the other side.

So much so that Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy in New Orleans recently found common ground about one, clear thing. They’ve decided to give their congregations a message: Get ahold of yourself!

Part of the continuing education for religious leaders of all types ought to involve occasional Sunday mornings spent not in church but observing the way that an increasing percentage of Americans spend their Sunday mornings. I came upon this idea some years ago when I found myself at home on a Sunday with reasons not to show up at church, since everyone was expecting me to be away.