A question for only those in this group:

[TreasonousBastard]

1. I live in a republican, but not wildeyed conservative town...

with few, if any, fundies.

What little help I can give you is that Baptists NOT affiliated with the SBC can be pretty cool. There's even something called the Baptist Peace Federation of North America with a whole bunch of bleeding hearts and, yes, gays in it.

Episcopalians go either way, and because of the rifts within don't always make their deeper feelings known publicly.

Congregationalists are pretty well independent, but often lean our way. They pay attention to their understanding of the teachings of Christ, not so much the OT.

Some Methodists I've known definitely lean our way, but that's here. Presbyterians you just never know. There's not a lot of incentive within the church to lean left, but some churches are happy to do it.

Missouri or Wisconsin Synod Lutherans really want to be Catholics of the conservative kind and don't feel much, if any, kinship with ELCA Lutherans. I grew up in the Missouri Synod, and I still feel the pain. ELCA Lutherans, however, can be very cool. The local ELCA Lutheran minister's wife is a hard worker in our Democratic committee and local charities.

Quakers, Mennonites, and Brethren are the historic Peace Churches, and may be worth a look if any are around. They are lifestyles as much as churches, but that's a large part of why I became a Quaker.

Other than that, I would first look at how many charitable causes each church supports, and of what sort. That might be the most obvious way to see how the parish leans.