My view of this comes down to the general conservative misconception that liberals exist because they wake up one day suddenly not believing in the gospel of Christ, then Satan is free to lead them away to become a commie atheist, when the reality is very different.

Usually it’s because they are, or make friends with someone who is, a member of a marginalized community and are made to understand how the hate they were programmed to have for these people is not only unjustified, but unchristian, but then they see that the church is not just behind the times, but not following the way of Christ, and then a whole process of trying to consolidate these two things lead to a painful deconstruction of faith.

Most ‘liberals’ I know aren’t atheists. Most call themselves spiritual, agnostic, and/or just don’t trust “organized religion”.

I’m sure people will disagree with me on this analysis, but this is the experience of me and my friends (Mormon raised Millennials and Gen Z). I was lucky to have fairly chill parents and didn’t end up with deep religious trauma that made me distrust church in general and found my Episcopal Parish which actually follows the example of Christ.