I didn’t attend any of those schools but did attend 2 others: one small LAC that would probably be viewed as relatively center-right (probably a smaller version of Rice or W&M) and one large Ivy that is viewed as very liberal (similar to MIT or Penn).
I’m certainly on the right side of the aisle politically, and I go to church multiple times a week. I’d go for any of the schools on the list, but would go to the most prestigious–thus Stanford, MIT, Duke, Penn or Chicago. I wouldn’t factor religiosity or politics into the decision.
In my own experience, the small “conservative” LAC had plenty of Chinos (Christians in Name Only) but the depth of religious activity was very low on campus, and religion wasn’t really a strong presence there. Democrats were definitely in the majority there, too, as “better” schools are generally liberal.
Conversely, the large “liberal” Ivy had a lot more going on on campus, including a lot more religious and political groups, and so the pool of really committed Christians, and thus the opportunities for growth as a Christian, were much larger at the large “liberal” Ivy. There were also a lot more political groups on campus. Thus at the LAC, committed Christian conservatives were maybe 10% of the population of, say, 2000, but at the large “liberal” Ivy, committed Christian conservatives were maybe 5% of the population of, say, 30,000, so that was 1500 similar people to hang with. The typical person knows 150 people, so that’s more than sufficient for a personal network of like-minded people.
I did see some anti-right wing/anti-Christian bigotry at the “liberal” Ivy, but so what? If someone wants to be a jerk, that’s his or her own problem. There was bigotry in both directions at the LAC, unfortunately, too.
When like-minded people are a small minority, they tend to come together and have deeper connections with each other. When they’re perceived as in the majority, they don’t. So if you want your son to bond with other Christians conservatives, I’d say that he may well do that more at a large “liberal” school than at a “conservative” one.
Also, don’t you want more people who share your son’s values in the highest ranks of society? The way to do that is for people like your son to attend the best schools available.