Thomas Jefferson, Deist
John Quincy Adams, Unitarian
Millard Fillmore, Unitarian
William Howard Taft, Unitarian
Jefferson liked the stories in the bible and followed them but pretty much considered them all to be fictional fables for living a good moral life, so he was no more Christian than someone who lived their life according to Hans Christian Anderson’s stories. Unitarians profess a belief in Jesus Christ but do not consider him divine, so I do not consider them Christians. I doubt any of these four candidates had a hard time getting elected because they refused to accept basic Christian doctrine.
“Evangelicals” are supposed to have all this power and influence in America but it seems nobody can even figure out what an Evangelical is. Are they even organized? I would say the influence of the “religions right” has more to do with devout, church-going people of Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox beliefs than any so-called “evangelical” community out there. Bush got the votes of 50% of Roman Catholics but 80% of devout, church-going Catholics. That’s as big as difference as the differences between the supposed “evangelical” movement and “mainline” Protestants. Perhaps the “Evangelical” movement is simply church-going protestants as opposed to the secular ones.
I’ve always been under the impression that if someone calls themselves an evangelical protestant, that they predicated it upon a strong connection to their church, and “Bible-believing”... or a strict adherence to the Word. This is just my sense of the meaning.
I think Dobson recently said evangelical means you are actively supporting missionary work... or spreading the gospel. I am not quoting him, here. It was just the impression I got.
I’m no religious authority. I suggest you continue to look if you want a stronger definition than what I have offered.