Those like the bishop who desperately foucus on the material world do so as a way to bolster thier own religous insecurities. A Love 'em and Leave 'em attitude. It's sad that standing on a beautiful beach the author can't see any joy or light in life. I kind of agree with to an extent, I think he believed the glory of Christianity was fading or had faded. This is such a sad poem, it seems almost a lament on the loss of the eternal or mystic elements of life.
All life is dark and nothing is clear.
I still don't understand why Tennyson is considered the most important poet of the Victorian era. I think it is Brownings satire on how petty the church can be. I also noticed that Browning draws paralells between Greek Deus and Christian. I think he is insinuating that the Greeks beliefs faded and so does the glory of Christianity. I think the reason he does not care for churches to be elaborately decorrated is because he sees it as a silly notion.