Not that it’s always (or even ever) correct, Wikipedia defines Evangelicalism: a Protestant Christian movement. It began in the 17th century and became an organized movement with the emergence around 1730 of the Methodists in England and the Pietists among Lutherans in Germany and Scandinavia. The movement became even more important—drawing far more members than in Europe—in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century. It continues to draw adherents globally in the 21st century, especially in the poor nations of the Third World.
It is a religious movement that de-emphasizes ritual and emphasizes the pietism of the individual, requiring him or her to meet certain active commitments, including:
The need for personal conversion (or being “born again”);
A high regard for biblical authority;
An emphasis on teachings that proclaim the saving death and resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ;[1]
Actively expressing and sharing the gospel.
John McCain, I repeat, was/is not an Evangelical Christian.
And Sarah Palin, baptized a Catholic or not, never had the opportunity to “lapse.” (My sisters baptized our Jewish neighbors’ children, too; and they’re certainly not lapsed Catholics because they continued to practice Judaism.) Surely you don’t believe God is so vengeful and authoritarian as to hold children responsible for the acts of others.
Yes, I know Falwell’s dead.
Huguenots who escaped to England were accepted into the Episcopal church without further baptism. Those who went to German states became Lutherans, Baptists, et al without question. They were accepted as Presbyterians in Scotland.
For obscure reasons many modern religious spokesmen imagine that Evangelical churches first arose in the Great Awakening in America, and not earlier.
The Religious Wars were over in France by 1598 ~ and the term was in widespread use then to mean Protestant.
Almost anyone could tell you that the Catholic church is not just another Protestant sect!