Can Democrats survive religion?

Or has the world forgotten that Jesus was the ultimate liberal?

Sinfonian at Blast Off!:
"I have not found anything in the Bible to dissuade me from my opinion that if Jesus returned today, He would be a liberal. The evangelical positions against things like abortion and gay marriage purport to come from a literal interpretation of the Bible - but it is a highly selective interpretation as well. I find evangelical positions hypocritical because they don't interpret the entire Bible literally; for example, I don't hear a lot of advocacy for stoning prostitutes or sacrificing animals, yet those customs are Biblically advocated as well.

The Jesus about whom I learned, and for many years worshipped, was compassionate, loved everyone, and took special interest in what we today call the underprivileged. Yet, the conservatism of today has distorted those positions to the point where evangelical Christians, who should support aid to the needy among us, vote for (and, in many cases, elect) candidates who want to reduce social services and promote big business.

In short, it's not the concept of Christianity itself - that is, the belief in God and in Jesus Christ as His manifestation on Earth - that has turned me off so much as the rank hypocrisy of its most vocal adherents. When the idea of "becoming a Christian" or "accepting Christ as your savior" was presented to me, as a 16-year-old back in 1982, I understood it as a choice that was left up to me - I retained the autonomy to make that decision for myself. What would Jesus do? I believe He would maintain the same basic stance I understood when I became a Christian almost a quarter century ago: human beings have a free will, and their choice to follow Him or not has nothing whatsoever to do with anyone else but themselves."