Ok, people. Let's get something straight, here.
EVANGELICALISM:
- of, relating to, or being in agreement with the Christian gospel especially as it is presented in the four Gospels
- protestant
3: emphasizing salvation by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ through personal conversion, the authority of Scripture, and the importance of preaching as contrasted with ritual
4 acapitalized : of or relating to the Evangelical Church in Germany boften capitalized : of, adhering to, or marked by fundamentalism : fundamentalist coften capitalized : low church
- marked by militant or crusading zeal : evangelistic <the evangelical ardor of the movement's leaders — Amos Vogel>
Many people on DKOS seem to be mixing this up with:
FUNDAMENTALISM: 1 aoften capitalized : a movement in 20th century Protestantism emphasizing the literally interpreted Bible as fundamental to Christian life and teaching b: the beliefs of this movement c: adherence to such beliefs
2: a movement or attitude stressing strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles <Islamic fundamentalism> <political fundamentalism>
— fun·da·men·tal·ist -tə-list\ noun
— fundamentalist or fun·da·men·tal·is·tic -ˌmen-tə-ˈlis-tik\ adjective
Evangelicals are NOT BY DEFINITION right wing and socially "conservative" in the political world. Evangelicals are mainly distinguished by their belief in the primary importance of "spreading the word of God" whereas other Christians consider personal belief and conduct of primary religious value. They are NOT by definition anti-gay or anti-abortion. There are right, moderate and left Evangelicals.
Fundamentalists, on the other hand, believe in Biblical literalism, and that's where a lot of right wing mischief originates. Fundamentalists are much more monolithically right wing and bigoted.
Do you know who one of the world's most prominent EVANGELICALS is, if not THE most prominent?
Jimmy Carter.
So please. Can we stop lumping all "EVANGELICALS" into the "RIGHT WING" category? It is a completely inaccurate description.