I find it pretty interesting that one of the comments up above I posted said:
"It is frowned upon to be an individual and have your own thoughts and ideas. The far left is trying to destroy our country, because they are not into individual freedoms. They are into a herd mentality."
I find myself becoming less judgmental of religious identities as I study them, so i want to address this point and why it's so strange; however, in order to do so I need to lead up to it. First I will need to describe some of the history of Protestantism in the United States.
Protestantism in the US had two ideological strands throughout most of the 20th century: mainline and evangelical. Mainline Protestant churches were more liberal; they believed the believe in the social welfare message of Christ and sought to go out and aid others, as Jesus preached to do in the sermon on the mount. Evangelical Protestant churches were the conservative strand of Protestantism, which offered a strict guidelines for a healthy and moral life. They strictly controlled their congregations lifestyles and sought to have others join them, so that they too may be saved. As opposed to going out, allowing others to be what they are and simply providing assistance and care, evangelism sought to spread the word of God under the notion that people who accept him will join their fold.
The key difference between these two strands of Protestantism is that one values individualism and looks to synthesize its teachings and beliefs with an increasingly pluralistic society, whilst the other looked out for themselves. Conservative religions held traditionalist values. Politically, they are intent on creating an evangelical Protestant America. Traditionalism values subdues the individual in favour of the group. In fact, straying from the program is very much considered a threat, not to just the religion but society as a whole. You see, the prescribed life of conservative religion is a response to the fractured identities we suffer from the radical individualism associated with modernity. Modernity might be seen as nihilistic in the sense that if we can be anything, then we are nothing. The modern condition is one of having no place, role, or position in society or time. Anything goes.
Evangelical conservative Christianity is a response to this modern condition. Throughout the 60s and 70s as society became more liberal, attendance in the Mainline Protestant churches (read: liberal Protestant churches) rapidly declined. People could be spiritual or faithful without church. Religious identities were becoming fragmented just as our social identities were. People began observing religions like they were in a cafeteria picking and choosing their dishes, keeping and discarding the parts that had the most meaning for them. Attending weekly services is one of the things that suffered, even though many continued to have a personal devotion. Paradoxically, while all of this was happening, conservative evangelical churches were holding onto their membership. These "stricter" churches that prescribed guidelines for their members lifestyles and enforced them may seem anachronistic but they serve a very important purpose. They give people a sense of purpose and identity. They prescribe for them a role in society that allows them to understand their place in space and time. Individualism led to the rise of many mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, precisely because it has become harder to find your place and role in this world. So many turned to or stayed with evangelical or more traditionalist religions as a way of finding meaning, purpose, and simply a place in an increasingly fragmented society.
What this commenter above characterized as an assault on society by liberals is not correct. "Liberalism" is the idea of individual freedoms and liberties, so it makes absolutely no sense to characterize liberal ideology as the subjugation of the individual. Liberal ideology is literally the exact opposite. It is conservative ideology that wants everyone to join their fold because they think the path to social well-being is a prescriptive program of faith that provides lifestyle guidelines to give everyone a place and sense of purpose in society. If it seems that Evangelical Christians are trying to take over the government and make everyone follow their beliefs, it is because that is exactly what they are doing and they strongly believe it is not just the right thing to do, but it is the moral thing to do. This doesn't just go for Christians, this is any traditionalist religion. The welfare of society and people's entire sense of purpose are bound up in the prescription of a conservative religious life that strictly values the group over the individual. Any deviation from the group is such a problem that there have been times where the group calls for the death of the person who doesn't subjugate their individuality before their faith. This is what happened to Salman Rushdie after publishing The Satanic Verses. This is what happened when conservative Christians justify the murder of abortion doctors.
So to put it simply, it is not liberals who are denying individual liberties and freedoms. It is very much a Christian conservative ideology that looks to subjugate the individual in favour of the group, one very specific group that all are invited to join and those who don't are seen as a threat to the group's very existence.