People like Pat Robertson give all Christians a bad name. He is a misguided fool who sees evil intent in everything. He's a paranoid, a fear monger, and he mixes his politics with his religion too often and too easily (and does injustice to both in the process).
Jesus fits neither into a "liberal" label nor a "conservative" label. In fact, in his day, the "conservatives" were the pharisees and temple priests, who he preached against all the time for being hypocrits. However, Jesus doesn't really fit into the "liberal" label either (although I think you could say he's closer to liberal than conservative in many ways -- read
Matthew 5 and
Matthew 25.)
Anyway, for those who distrust religion, don't take people like Pat Roberton or Jerry Faldwell as good representatives of the Christian Faith. They are far too ego driven to be good deliverers of Jesus' message. Jesus' calling is not about "learning and following all the rules". It's not about "defending marriage from homosexuals". It's not about whether you're "pro-choice" or "anti-abortion". It's not about making a spectacle of yourself by publicly passing judgement on whole groups of people. Jesus said to be careful judging people, because God makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust alike. Our judgement should be tempered with the thought that we're presuming to know what God would want. Personally, I don't consider myself wise enough most of the time to make that kind of public statement, and I find it a better use of my time to keep my mind on my own sins, and what I can personally do to make the world better.
I do wonder, for those who hold up morons like Pat Robertson and Jerry Faldwell as their reason for not giving Christianity a real try, do they do this as a straw man argument? Certainly there are those in the faith who make a mockery of it, and there have been those who called themselves Christians who have done evil things, but there are countless others who are more honorable, and who have taken Jesus' teachings to heart and made a positive impact on the world: Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Graham, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, just to name a few.
I also think it's possible for a rationalist to find the Christian system of morality to be reasonable. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called "Mere Christianity" that talks about this. I used to be an athiest, or at least a staunch agnostic, mostly because I'm a rationalist. Christianity seemed childish to me. However, after reading C.S. Lewis, I started to see how it's anything but childish, and it's worth learning more about. That's how I became a Christian -- not because some idiot tricked, scared, or shamed me into it, but rather because it just made sense to me.
So, friends, if you have a chance some time, grab a copy of "Mere Christianity" at the library. It's not a long book, and it's an easy read. Then decide for yourself. Is it worth reading Jesus' words yourself once you finish "Mere Christianity"? You're the only person who can answer that question, and from your perspective, the only person for whom it matters.