This is an open comment thread to try to answer the question above intelligently.  Any blog posts or news stories - link 'em here.  Any thoughts - post away.

Figure we should attempt to contribute here in the blogosphere…

In her most recent book, Ann Coulter makes the case for Liberalism as a religion to Liberals.  While I admit the notion is inflammatory, her argument is interesting in that she equates the practices and elements of a religion to the practices of liberals and the elements of liberalism, and she makes a good parallel.

As she says:

"Of course liberalism is a religion. It has its own cosmology, its own miracles, its own beliefs in the supernatural, its own churches, its own high priests, its own saints, its own total worldview, and its own explanation of the existence of the universe. In other words, liberalism contains all the attributes of what is generally known as 'religion.'"

Now in fairness, a lot of that could be equally directed at any ideology, but in the case of liberals she is correct that liberalism contains several elements common to religion, particularly in the environmental arena.