Rise of the Religious Left?

I thought it was just lip service that Hillary has been giving to religious folks but there may be a real religious left brewing.

The candidates' easy willingness to appear at the forum also represents
a watershed for the modern Democratic Party: Intimate discussion of faith, and
how it informs policy views and personal behavior, is no longer an arms-length
proposition at the party's highest levels.

I guess the atheist, anti-God wing of the Democratic Party is starting to lose favor. It would seem that "progressive" values and religious values would have coincided years ago. I mean the Catholic Church has usually been anti-war, pro-peace, and anti-poverty for years. However, the reason why the religious left will never be as strong as the religious right is as follows:

But to some activists, especially those who are fighting to maintain
strict separation between church and state, the growth of a religious left
raises the risk that the public loses sight of the proper place of religion
and faith in government.