Yes, the religious Left has always been a vital and potent force for social progress. The Right in the USA has been pretending to have a monopoly on religious faith for some time now, and it's a ridiculously false claim, believed only by people who have not bothered to look into the facts of the matter.

The religious Right is fundamentally opposed to everything Christ stood for, in my opinion. They think the way the scribes and pharisees did who had Jesus crucified.