More than 2,000 people converged on rural North Carolina earlier this month for the third annual Wild Goose Festival, a gathering featuring music, art and speeches on religion and social issues — all with a liberal twist. The festivalgoers fit the description of what some call "religious progressives," a label that riffs on the idea of "religious conservatives" to describe those who exhibit both faith and left-of-center politics. According to research released recently by two liberal-leaning research groups, Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, this group may have the potential to change the dynamics of religion and politics in America.
