An increasing minority of democrats do. Republicans tend to have a religion already so they try to leave that stuff to the church.

Where does this come from? The religious foundations of the current GOP are well attested[1].

The historical conventional wisdom around the US's political parties is that Democrats fall in love (meaning that they abstain from voting over minor political differences), while Republicans fall in line (meaning that they hold their nose and vote for whoever the party ticket is). That's changed a little bit over the the last decade, but not appreciably so.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Majority

In my opinion, Republicans are less falling in line and more voting against the other side.

American politics today are about thesis/antithesis, where the thesis is whatever the latest liberal agenda is and the antithesis is everyone who normally disagrees with each other, but is united in a common disagreement with the Democratic Party.

In this environment, there's only one political thesis (not antithesis) that has more than a very small percentage of the vote.

What makes you say that when preachers are actively testing the laws regarding non-profit status, widely reported to support GOP legislators who are using their religion as the basis for their platforms on abortion.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/10/30/johnson-amendment-el... https://www.newsnationnow.com/religion/churches-politics-pul...

No, they definitely do not. They are unable to distinguish their religion from the values they think the republican party represent.

I reflexively agreed, but then I hesitated, because some of my recent discussions with other people suggest that to them, in an abstract, it is just that.. some far fetched abstract impossibility. My most recent like conversation was extra depressing, because I was not only given 'nothing to hide' argument, but it also was followed with 'you gotta trust the system'.

I want to blame politicization and very clear 'us vs them' sentiment, but I am no longer certain that is the entire reason for current craziness. I am not sure non-tech people understand what is at stake.

To me it is an episode of Dark Mirror 'The entire history of you'. And they do not get it why it is a very bad idea to make a new normal.

I would say as a tribe, rather than as a religion. Religion involves some combo of supernatural and ethical beliefs. Tribes are about in-group out-group status and conflict.