[GeorgeBerryman]

I wish y'all would quit referring to ordinary Christians as "evangelicals."

I'm not using it in a derogatory fashion, Jez. I am one of 'em :) Just putting it into the context of the kind of things I've been hearing Dick say lately. It hasn't particularly thrilled me - I live in Lewisville.

[ClaireSolt]

I have been interested in, studied, practiced and taught about Christianty all of my life, and I can't figure out what "evangelicals" is supposed to mean. fyi

[Jezebelle]

I know you're not using it in a derogatory fashion, but the media does. It's one of their buzz words for, "Yuck! It's one of those bleating Christians again!" as though we are some kind of pestilence.

Why help them perpetrate the derogatory usage by repeating it? In the case of somebody who is actually an evangelical Christian, then it should be used, but the media lumps just about anybody of faith, including Catholics and excepting Jews, into the term, as though all Christians go about preaching the gospel zealously and constantly telling everybody what to do and what to believe like judgmental busybodies full of fire and brimstone.

The next time one of them uses the term, he or she should be asked if the person they are referring to is a preacher of some sort or somebody who walks around reading the gospel aloud to people, or are they simply talking about one of the millions upon millions of ordinary Christians in this country.

I will bet you a good part of the population doesn't even know what "evangelical" means.