My take on the metaphor is to look at the civil rights movement and the subsequent Civil Right Act that emanated from it. The churches led the way in this issue of social justice and the government followed through. The problem today is the characters at play in the 'estuary' lack the 'character' to accomplish today what was achieved 40+ years ago when people listened to each other and there was a consensus between church and state about embracing our brothers and sisters as family rather than marginalize them as 'the other'. Unfortunately, I don't think today's embrace of church and state portends much progress on social justice, more likely the opposite.