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Assertions that churches and religious leaders led movements for social change in America, and continue to do so, are based primarily on Quaker (Society of Friends) and Unitarian roles in the Abolitionist movement and the involvement of Black churches in the Civil Rights movement.
A more critical analysis of mainstream religious participation in great social change finds religious institutions to have been more opposed to change than supportive of it.
The high water mark for making an imprimatur on society was undoubtedly in the Abolitionist opposition to slavery. However, even then, most churches were of the opinion that slavery was biblical, and condoned by God. The Bible was the primary tool used to defend slavery by Southerners and Northern Conservatives.
With the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, even the more radical Christian churches fell silent on social matters. There was no discernible agitation for unions, workplace safety, or for women's suffrage from religious leaders or their churches.
With the exception of asserting their pacifist convictions during periods of war, the Quakers have become subsumed into mainstream Christianity. The Unitarians, once an outspoken and formidable political force for Liberalism, continue in that role, although their influence is all but gone.
Black churches certainly played a prominent role in the Civil Rights movement, but mainstream churches were primarily opposed to the struggle for equality and fairness for African Americans.
In the ongoing movements for women's rights, gay rights, and marriage equality, religious institutions are missing in action, or are adamantly in opposition. Curiously, many Black churches actively opposed marriage equality at the very time the gay and lesbian communities were working to elect the first Black as president of the United States.
Liberal religious leaders routinely cite their religious beliefs when championing social reform. Yet the religions to which they subscribe are antithetical to any such social consciousness.
Indeed, the charitable, love thy neighbor, do unto others like how you would like others to do onto you ethic of Liberal theologians is indistinguishable from the humanist views of most Atheists.
The United States was founded as a secular nation, but in practice has become almost a theocracy. Bizarre world views are the norm in an otherwise relatively literate populace.
Social liberals are forever at odds with mainstream American religions. The successes of reformist social movements have been inspite of American religious beliefs, not because of them.
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