If a large majority of religious followers were progressives or liberals, the inclusive, egalitarian, democratizing policies and programs from half a century ago such as anti-poverty programs; construction of public housing; assurance of voting rights for all; affordable access to higher education; criminal justice reform; and national protection of a woman’s bodily autonomy might not have been as thoroughly devastated. But religious progressives’ belief that scripture supports a progressive agenda is not shared by a majority of their fellow believers.
In the US, religious conservatives outnumber religious liberals and progressives combined by a factor greater than two to one. And in most cases the more religious a person is the more likely they are to identify as conservative.[1]
To religious conservatives, religious progressives are just getting it all wrong. Between the all the ambiguity, the judgmental thinking, the authoritarian, punishing God (including the Christian God as previously discussed,) the cynical view of human nature, and the irrational belief that, unlike anything else in our universe, humans can simply choose to defy causation if they want to, arguing for a progressive agenda based on a religious rationale is a quixotic and futile strategy.
Ultimately, religious based justifications for progressive policies backfire and advance the conservative agenda. When progressives and liberals invoke religious text and traditions, they are affirming that when it comes to understanding the human condition, ancient religious ideas are of substantial relevance today and that a policy’s validity should depend on its alignment with ancient scripture. Religious conservatives completely agree, and are happy there is such a significant shared belief. For the religious conservative, however, the only problem is with the way religious progressives and liberals interpret things.
They believe that religious progressives have been misled and/or are confused. Some religious conservatives may try to “enlighten” progressives through discussion, others may simply pray that the progressives will be divinely guided to a better understanding.
Instead of basing our understanding of human experience on a selective interpretation of ancient religious texts, arguments in support of a progressive agenda should be based on evidence and reason. Grounded in evidence and reason Naturalistic Humanism provides a solid rationale for humility, kindness, generosity, supporting all aspects of a comprehensive and durable progressive agenda.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religion-partisanship-and-ideology/