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As a progressive follower of Jesus, I cringe when I see the word "evangelical" used without qualification to characterize reactionary fundamentalists like Sarah Palin and the members of the Wasilla Assembly of God. Referring to them simply as "evangelicals" is like referring to neocon warmongers simply as "Republicans". The term "evangelical" covers a very broad assortment of Christian believers united only by a robust faith in Jesus Christ. Many of us, however, hear in the words of Jesus a call to tolerance, compassion, and humility that issue in beliefs toward gays, the poor, and the exercise of military force that are at polar opposites with Palin and her fellow ideologues (think former Salon contributor Annie Lamott!!), who see the world in the easy-to-process black and white of a simplistic theology based on a quirky, literal reading of the Bible.
So please get it straight, Salon -- evangelicals are not necessarily fundamentalists! You indiscriminately tar the entire group -- which includes a lot of avid Salon readers -- with the same brush when you use the more inclusive term to refer only to its most extreme members.
