I'm not sure, but In These Times seems to think so.
The big story of the next few decades, spiritually speaking, might be the re-emergence of the religious left as a powerful political force.
What’s going on in Illinois offers solid evidence for that theory. This past spring, the state’s General Assembly considered two controversial bills. One proposed to give courts the authority to seal the criminal records of people who were arrested and then released because the charges were dropped or the defendant was acquitted. [...] The other bill proposed the legalization of medical marijuana.
Until recently, both bills were politically toxic because voting for them would leave politicians vulnerable to the charge of being soft on crime or pro-drugs. [...]
Both bills became politically viable in part because they were high priorities with Protestants for the Common Good (PCG), a lobbying organization that focuses on Illinois politics.
So, in addition to the Interfaith Alliance, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, we've got another group I'd never heard of, Protestants for the Common Good, as well as Interfaith Worker Justice, actually making a positive difference in the public sphere.
Back to In These Times:
PCG distributes educational materials to about 400 churches, but its primary focus is legislative lobbying. It is organizing a network of about 100 people across Illinois who will pressure legislators on short notice when progressive voices might sway a vote in the Assembly. “That’s not a huge number, but it can make a major difference,” says Sharp, who earned a Masters of Divinity from the University of Chicago in 1996, the same year he became PCG’s founding executive director. “It’s strategic involvement that makes a big difference. An awful lot of what we’ve accomplished has been because we were a distinctive voice at the margin that tipped the opinion.”
Another faith-based organization, Interfaith Worker Justice, has been pivotal in putting wage theft on national and local legislative agendas. Kim Bobo, who founded the organization in the mid-’90s and is IWJ’s executive director, said that its single-minded focus on economic justice has helped it cooperate with congregations across the theological and denominational spectrum. It is especially active among Catholic churches that serve primarily Latino populations. “There is a set of social issues that are very divisive within the religious community,” she says. “But when you come to economic matters, the divisions are not as clear.”