Religion and Politics

WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) This is a common question, asked usually by Christians.

A recent post on the Huffington Post addresses the reality that most members of the religious right in the USA are politically conservative/Republicans, even though a good case can be made that Jesus as portrayed in the Bible actually was a liberal by today's standards. Thus, why such a political alignment?

Conversely, why are skeptics, non-religious people and more liberal Christians heavily represented on the left/liberal/Democrat side of the political spectrum, even though a case can be made that the founders of the USA did not want a strong, centrally-controlled government and that the liberal/Democrat side of the political spectrum has a more dubious record of fiscal irresponsibility, as well as greater promotion of unproven and failed educational and social policies?

Michael Shermer recently described the results of research conducted by Jonathan Haidt of the University of Virginia revealing how and why liberals and conservatives differ.