And these days freedom of speech needs defenders, for when I look around, I find it under attack everywhere. Blacklisting, cancel culture, libraries being closed or defunded, classic works of literature being banned or bowdlerized or removed from classrooms, an ever growing list of “toxic” words the mere utterance of which is now forbidden no matter the context or intent, the erosion of civility in discourse. Both the Rabid Right and the Woke Left seem more intent on silencing those whose views they disagree with, rather than besting them in debate. And the consequences for those who dare to say things deemed offensive have been growing ever more dire; jobs lost, careers ended, books cancelled, “deplatforming.”
Full blog post here: https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2022/08/15/let-his-voice-be-heard/
Except funnily enough half of those religious conservatives where liberals and progressives before they found their nee religion of woke
Since the US only has two political parties, they've both had to be "big tents" to some degree.
I mostly voted for Republican candidates, but I am pro-abortion, I am personally and generally in favor of stronger environmental regulation, and I am not religious.
I still have more in common with many religious conservatives than I do with most leftists.
Some branches of my familiar were and still are extremely leftwing religious SJW (before there were SJWs) types. I have very little in common with them.
Religion is just one datapoint, and probably not a very reliable one. For generations of leftists though, the big bad "Christian conservative" is the ultimate evil.