For the record, I have no plans to take over… you guys can have it. 
My parents grew up in communist china, so their views are a little atypical. In general, they are social conservatives (hate gay people) but absolutely for separation of church and state, social security… etc. They were clintonites during the election, mostly because they think Bush is an idiot, and Obama is black… 
The “moment of zen” was when my dad saw some black neighbors moving in and said “damn it, you just can’t get away from them”. WTF?!?
I’m very liberal in general, but my parents definitely influenced me when it comes to affirmative action (minority myself).
Hmmm, my parents are devout church-goers, and apparently my younger brother is all Christian-y, too. I believe their general politics are relatively liberal. Little bro is an Obama booster.
My older brother has fallen in with neo-Gnostics and has new-age sympathies, but at least he’s a libertarian-istic stoner.
I’m a humanist atheist, but I remain in the religious closet to my family.
My family’s politics, as soon as you move beyond parents and siblings, is like a rainbow in which the different colors are trying to beat each other up at Paintball. We have independentists (violent and non, Basque and Catalan), regionalists (Basque, Navarrese, “Navarra is Basque” and Catalan), centralists, blue shirts, red berets, socialists, communists, anarchists… The closer landscape is only marginally less complicated, as there are only five of us (the nephews aren’t old enough to argue politics yet).
Pick any issue, the family will be divided over it, but depending on the issue the splits will involve different people. Now add that Dad’s culture (and that of most of my relatives by marriage on that side) considers debate as a bonding experience, bring out some coffee and finger food, and you have all that’s needed for a wonderful evening.
I’m pretty similar to my parents in that politics was not something that they liked to discuss. Neither do I. I am probably to the right of either of them. I would guess they were very moderate. The only two presidential elections(or any other type of election now that I think of it) that I’m pretty sure how they voted was for Reagan and Nixon. But since both of those elections were landslides it doesn’t prove much about their politics.
Politics - we were always conservative
Religion - big difference. My folks were Episcopal and raised me as such. When I found out that religion was a lie and stopped going to church at age 13 or so, there was a BIG fooraw in our house about it.
My mom and step dad are Scientologists who have yet to find a conspiracy that’s just too out there to believe. JFK had a second gunman, the moon landing was faked, 9/11 was an inside job, the Illuminati are the puppetmasters behind the scenes, all that sort of stuff. They don’t trust modern medicine and instead buy into pretty much any herbal, homeopathic, or ‘ancient shaman remedy’ type crap they can find. They will still go to the doctor if needed, thankfully (I’m not sure how they reconcile doing this with their beliefs but whatever) but they ‘supplement’ with all the snake oil bs.
During the primaries I heard a lot more than I really wanted to about Dr. Ron Paul and last time I visited they had bought some device that ‘reorganized the ions of the water vapor in the air’ or some such thing that was supposed to give you more energy or keep you healthy. Or something, I don’t know.
I’m an extremely liberal atheist-leaning agnostic, I like and generally trust science, and my paranoia regarding the government is at what I think is a normal and healthy level.
Despite the vast differences in belief we have a good relationship. They have come to accept that I am and always will be blind to ‘The Truth’ and I have come to accept that they are and always will be crazy. It bugs me that they waste their money on some of this crap but there’s nothing I can do about it and they’re happy so I just :rolleyes: and move on.
My parents are very liberal. My mom is, I think, a registered Democrat, my dad re-registered Green awhile ago because he was annoyed at the Democrats, I’m not sure if he’s gone back to being a Democrat since. They’re also both atheists.
I’m a liberal atheist, too. (As is my sister, although I think she has some Buddhist leanings.) I think I might be a little more libertarian than my parents, and am a little more willing to give Republican ideas the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it’s because I actually know some Republicans, and they aren’t evil. My parents live in an extremely liberal area and virtually everyone our family socializes with is also a liberal. Let’s just say that in the social circle in which I grew up, it was much more acceptable to be a pagan or Buddhist than a Christian.
Was raised in a Jewish family, but I’ve been the lone atheist since early on.
Also, my parents (and sister) don’t typically like to talk about anything too touchy, and mostly try to avoid debating, learning and growing, which I find a bit frustrating.
I’m somewhat more libertarian/conservative than my parents, but that’s not difficult; I think my mom is essentially a Marxist, though she and Dad are both registered Democrats. I’m not registered for any party and usually vote for Democrats but sometimes Republicans (don’t tell Mom!). They were both raised in casually Christian households, but questioned all that in college, and raised my sister and me as Unitarian Universalists (somewhere on the agnostic-atheist spectrum), more or less, which I’d say we still are. One of Mom’s brothers went all fundie on us, which has occasionally been very awkward at family gatherings.
What really blows my mind is that my sister, raised in the same household as I was, with all the same values and ideals, forwards chain e-mails.
Sounds a whole lot like my family and I.
I find that the typical, sane Republican, which I believe constitutes the majority of the party, are perfectly well informed people who are more than willing to engage in a civilized discussion. A large part of my current political philosophy was shaped by debate with these kinds of people.
I think I may have strayed a bit from the OP.
My parents were both very sincere in their faith christians and staunch Roosevelt Democrats. Even though the acknowledged that many problems in society were government-created, they always believed the government could fix them, too, if just given the tools.
My siblings vary all over the map in terms of their degree of christianity, but they all ID themselves as such.
I’m an atheistic buddhist (small l) libertarian. I see no reason or justification to believe in a deity and I don’t think the government should ever have the authority to tell anyone how to live their lives or conduct their affairs. It certainly shouldn’t have the authority to make anyone else pay for it.
Mom loved me, but she was even more concerned about my politics than she was my lack of religion. It was sweet. Dad always hoped I’d “come around,” but he was smart enough to understand the best path to that was by example, not argument. I always admired him as a person, mostly for that exact mindset.
Parents both grew up in small Southern US cities. As soon as they got out, they never went to church.
Naturally, I became fascinated with religion, mostly due to listening to scared music.
Father was a bit more conservative, mother was a bit more liberal. Still, they were the classic middle of the road voters.
I ended up a liberal Democrat. I’m sure that has a lot to due with the politics of the past 30 years or so.
So, I’m the only weekly church goer in the family and voted for Obama!
When it comes up (which isn’t often, as most people know I am a wingnut) I state that I am so far left that I have begun the full circle. I disagree with most Republicans I know on nearly all issues except taxation. I am mostly politically libertarian, but if was up to me I would be communalist (not communist, communalist).
I have spent time on communes and my mother and stepfather started their own intentional community about five years ago.
Mom is pagan and dad is agnostic and is a regular attendee at unitarian churches- I think of myself as forced into buddhism, because if there is any ‘soul’ energy in the universe, that makes the most sense to me, but I don’t know that I actually believe anything. Occam’s razor makes atheist the obvious choice, but I am undecided. I guess that makes me agnostic.