From David Brooks' most recent op-ed:

George W. Bush was born into an Episcopal family and raised as a Presbyterian, but he is now a Methodist. Howard Dean was baptized Catholic, and raised as an Episcopalian. He left the church after it opposed a bike trail he was championing, and now he is a Congregationalist, though his kids consider themselves Jewish.

Wesley Clark's father was Jewish. As a boy he was Methodist, then decided to become a Baptist. In adulthood he converted to Catholicism, but he recently told Beliefnet .com, "I'm a Catholic, but I go to a Presbyterian church."

...

These days political parties grow more orthodox, while religions grow more fluid.

I was struck by this last sentence, coming near the end of the editorial. I think Brooks is onto something. While Americans have become less dogmatic about religion, they've become more dogmatic about politics.

So is politics the new religion of this century?