# How are evangelicals distinct from other Christians? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747 "2018-01-29T17:52:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/21 "2018-01-30T00:16:06Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > They’re not Catholic. 😉 > > If I remember my college religion class, the tenets, as it were, that separate evangelicals from other christian denominations is a belief in the inerrancy of the bible/biblical literalism, a belief that the only road to salvation is through Jesus Christ (no virtuous pagans in evangelicalism!), an emphasis on a personal conversion or born-again moment and that good old evangelist zeal. > > This is not to say that one or more of these can’t be true of other christian groups. The parts I highlighted in red are the core beleifs of christianity in general, whether an evangelical or not. Evangelicals are the people who come to your door, Mormon missionaries and Jehovah’s Witnesses are to good examples of evangelicals regardless of anyone’s stance on those being christian religions or not. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/22 "2018-01-30T01:12:52Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > The parts I highlighted in red are the core beleifs of christianity in general, whether an evangelical or not. Evangelicals are the people who come to your door, Mormon missionaries and Jehovah’s Witnesses are to good examples of evangelicals regardless of anyone’s stance on those being christian religions or not. Um, no. Wrong, wrong, and wrong. Also wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/23 "2018-01-30T02:28:10Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > …a belief in the inerrancy of the bible/biblical literalism,… > [@guestchaz](#): > > The parts I highlighted in red are the core beleifs of christianity in general, whether an evangelical or not I don’t know where you got the idea that Christians in general subscribe to inerrancy and literalism, but it’s simply not true. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/24 "2018-01-30T02:29:00Z")
1. In some languages like German, it simply means Protestant, especially mainline. 2. In the US and some other countries, it means a Protestant who has some specific beliefs. This usually includes being “born again” and an emphasis on salvation by faith. Conservative politics are normally included but not always (e.g. Jimmy Carter). It does not require literalism, that’s a subset of evangelicals called fundamentalism. Prosperity gospel is a minority opinion by number of churches, though the churches that practice it tend to be megachurches. 3. Mormons and JW practice evangelizing. That’s not the same thing. In this case it refers to active recruitment. They are not included in Evangelistic Christians for demographic purposes. In both cases, their doctrine is very heterodox from Protestantism. > [@Melbourne](#): > > Since Vat II, doesn’t the universal church include the protestants? Orthodox churches are considered Catholic but with a not insurmountable disagreement, and their sacrements are generally considered valid by the RCC. Anglicans/Episcopalians are mostly valid in practice. Protestants may not be, but Lutheranism is generally considered the closest. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/25 "2018-01-30T02:59:51Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > And they’re terrified of Sharia law. Since this is a GQ thread, would you mind backing up that statement with some facts? mc ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/26 "2018-01-30T03:08:20Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Since this is a GQ thread, would you mind backing up that statement with some facts? > > mc Not to turn this into a Great Debate or a BBQ Pit thread, but a citation was requested. Here is one. [Fears of Sharia Law in America Grow Among Conservatives](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fears-of-sharia-law-in-america-grow-among-conservatives/) > [@](#): > > The rise of anti-Muslim sentimentin America has brought with it a wave of largely-unsubstantiated suggestions from conservative media commentators and politicians that America is at risk of falling under the sway of Sharia law. [Here](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/frank-gaffney-donald-trump-and-the-denationalization-of-american-muslims/519954/) is another. > [@](#): > > [Frank Gaffney’s] dark warnings about Sharia law taking over America found an audience among grassroots conservatives—and now, in the White House. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/27 "2018-01-30T03:14:01Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Since this is a GQ thread, would you mind backing up that statement with some facts? > > mc [Fears of Sharia Law in America Grow Among Conservatives](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fears-of-sharia-law-in-america-grow-among-conservatives/)(2010) > [@](#): > > The rise of anti-Muslim sentimentin America has brought with it a wave of largely-unsubstantiated suggestions from conservative media commentators and politicians that America is at risk of falling under the sway of Sharia law. > > “They are building mosques all over the place,” the questioner told Angle. “They want to build one near [ground zero]. And they seem to be getting their way. On a TV program just last night I saw that they are taking over a city in Michigan.” > > After stating that the “militant terrorist situation” in question “isn’t a widespread thing,” Angle said this: “First of all, Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas are on American soil, and under Constitutional law. Not Sharia law. And I don’t know how that happened in the United States.” > > “It seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or government situation in our United States,” she added. [Will The Real Theocrats Please Stand Up?](https://www.au.org/church-state/may-2017-church-state/viewpoint/will-the-real-theocrats-please-stand-up)(2017) > [@](#): > > Hate crimes in America against Muslims have risen to levels not seen since 9/11. President Donald J. Trump inflamed and rode Islamophobia to the White House, drawing the overwhelming support of a key anti-Islam voting constituency – right-wing evangelical Christians. Upon taking office, Trump signed an executive order travel ban targeting immigrants from seven Muslim nations, and all refugees. Many of his evangelical Christian supporters cheered, but their joy was short lived as courts quickly blocked the president’s unconstitutional action. > > Irrational fear of Muslims, however, extends beyond refugees. Many Americans also obsess over the illusionary prospect of “Sharia law” infiltrating courtrooms in the United States. > > The movement to ban Sharia in courtrooms began during Obama’s presidency. In 2010 Newt Gingrich fanned the flames by proclaiming, “I believe Sharia is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it.” > > Reality, however, is quite different. In America, far-right evangelical Christians are far more likely than Muslims to oppose the First Amendment’s religion-state separation and to demand that religion – their religion – shape government. In addition, evangelicals are far more opposed to same-sex marriage than Muslims. > > In other words, far-right evangelicals, while pointing fingers at Muslims, are themselves the greater danger to America’s freedoms. > > Indeed, the Religious Right’s anti-freedom vision for America is already partially realized. According to a study of religion in American courtrooms, Christian “judges’ personal religious beliefs and religious education very often find a place in decisions they write. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/28 "2018-01-30T03:27:18Z")
“Evangelical” literally means “of or pertaining to the gospel”; the root is of course the Greek εὐαγγέλιον, gospel. About the time of the Reformation the word was adopted by certain groups to indicate that their take on Christianity was more true to the gospel than that of their rivals. Their rivals, naturally, did not accept this characterisation, but nevertheless the usage stuck; in German _evangelisch_ still has a meaning which basically corresponds to the English word “Protestant”. In the eighteenth century a still narrower meaning began to emerge. “Evangelical” was used to designate those Protestants who stressed that the essence of the Gospel lies in the doctrine of salvation by faith in the atoning death of Christ, and who denied that either good works or the sacraments could have any salvific efficacy. As theological fashions have changed, this view came to be associated with other views - biblical literalism, the importance of being born again, the necessity for individual acceptance of Jesus as your “personal Lord and Saviour”. None of these beliefs is necessarily essential for someone to be considered an Evangelical Christian but, basically, Evangelicals will tend to subscribe to some combination of them. The term can be used with respect to an individual, a congregation or an entire denomination. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/29 "2018-01-30T03:32:53Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > 1. In some languages like German, it simply means Protestant, especially mainline. > > 2. In the US and some other countries, it means a Protestant who has some specific beliefs. This usually includes being “born again” and an emphasis on salvation by faith. Conservative politics are normally included but not always (e.g. Jimmy Carter). It does not require literalism, that’s a subset of evangelicals called fundamentalism. Prosperity gospel is a minority opinion by number of churches, though the churches that practice it tend to be megachurches. > > 3. Mormons and JW practice evangelizing. That’s not the same thing. In this case it refers to active recruitment. They are not included in Evangelistic Christians for demographic purposes. In both cases, their doctrine is very heterodox from Protestantism.Orthodox churches are considered Catholic but with a not insurmountable disagreement, and their sacrements are generally considered valid by the RCC. Anglicans/Episcopalians are mostly valid in practice. Protestants may not be, but Lutheranism is generally considered the closest. The RCC use of the term isn’t what was intended above, which really relates to a desired connection to the Nicene creed version of the term. [We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.](http://anglicansonline.org/basics/nicene.html) It is more about a claimed connection or continuity to what they view as the original universal church. As it is also defined by each denomination independently there isn’t a singular denotative meaning. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/30 "2018-01-30T05:33:27Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Fears of Sharia Law in America Grow Among Conservatives](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fears-of-sharia-law-in-america-grow-among-conservatives/)(2010) > > [Will The Real Theocrats Please Stand Up?](https://www.au.org/church-state/may-2017-church-state/viewpoint/will-the-real-theocrats-please-stand-up)(2017) Your first cite is about conservatives, not evangelicals. There is only one occurrence of the term “evangelical” in that piece, and it’s not about any folks in fear of Sharia Law. > [@](#): > > The Dearborn claim may have been grounded in the arrest of four Christian evangelists for disorderly conduct at an Arab cultural festival in June, which some conservatives took as evidence that Sharia law had come to Michigan. Your second cite is an advocacy site, not a hard news site. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/31 "2018-01-30T05:47:01Z")
Just to be clear, I’m sure that some (many?) Evangelicals are “terrified of Sharia Law”, but to say that is a defining characteristic of that group is a political statement, not a factual one. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/32 "2018-01-30T05:50:36Z")
I agree. mc ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/33 "2018-01-30T06:13:54Z")
I don’t know of recent immigration to Dearborn, but the historic population has been Arab (Lebanese mostly) and Maronite (Catholic). So it seems their Islamophobia might be misplaced. Not that Catholics are much higher on the fundie totem pole. > [@rat\_avatar](#): > > The RCC use of the term isn’t what was intended above, which really relates to a desired connection to the Nicene creed version of the term. > > [We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.](http://anglicansonline.org/basics/nicene.html) > > It is more about a claimed connection or continuity to what they view as the original universal church. As it is also defined by each denomination independently there isn’t a singular denotative meaning. Intended where? I was not referring to uppercase vs lowercase “c” ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/34 "2018-01-30T07:25:36Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I don’t know of recent immigration to Dearborn, but the historic population has been Arab (Lebanese mostly) and Maronite (Catholic). So it seems their Islamophobia might be misplaced. Not that Catholics are much higher on the fundie totem pole. > Intended where? I was not referring to uppercase vs lowercase “c” You missed some cases then, because lots of Protestants don’t consider them Protestants, although growing up in the church we called ourselves protestants and “anglo-catholic” You can’t use Protestants with any church that broke with Rome out of protest since it would include the Orthodox who are not Protestant. Or the Utrecht Old Catholics Mar Thoma etc… It is not base on the reformation or the actions of Martin Luther, so while Roman Catholic Church may like to claim ownership of the big “C” version, but the “universal” usage predates the usurpation by Rome. I grew up in the Episcopalian church, we use to joke that it was Catholic-lite; All the ceremony, none of the guilt. Just like the OP, it is a complex topic. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/35 "2018-01-30T07:35:32Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > You can’t use Protestants with any church that broke with Rome out of protest since it would include the Orthodox who are not Protestant. That’s the one breakup which has always been admitted to be political. It was about whether the “Rome” that counted was the city or the empire. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/36 "2018-01-30T07:37:07Z")
I think a very broad and fairly safe differentiation is that Evangelicals are _born again_, or experience a \*new birth \*as a separate pivotal happening before baptism. It is probably better to assign Fundamentalism as a parallel or separate trait that relates to a more conservative and often literal reading of the scriptures. There are Evangelicals who are not Fundamentalists. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/37 "2018-01-30T08:44:10Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > You missed some cases then, because lots of Protestants don’t consider them Protestants, although growing up in the church we called ourselves protestants and “anglo-catholic” > You can’t use Protestants with any church that broke with Rome out of protest since it would include the Orthodox who are not Protestant. Or the Utrecht Old Catholics Mar Thoma etc… > > It is not base on the reformation or the actions of Martin Luther, so while Roman Catholic Church may like to claim ownership of the big “C” version, but the “universal” usage predates the usurpation by Rome. > > I grew up in the Episcopalian church, we use to joke that it was Catholic-lite; All the ceremony, none of the guilt. > > Just like the OP, it is a complex topic. “Protestant” generally refers to the various traditions of Western Christianity which separated themselves from Rome at the time of the Reformation of the sixteeenth century - the Lutherans, the Reformed/Calvinist/Presbyterians, the Anglicans, the Anabaptists - and to traditions which in turn emerged from them - e.g. the Methodists. All, or virtually all, Christians are agreed that the church is catholic, i.e. universal. The term arose in the second century and was contrasted with “schismatic” - i.e. churches which severed their relationship with the worldwide church, as opposed to being in communion with it. Where the various Christian traditions disagree is over what constitutes this catholicity. For some, the catholicity of the church is assured by the almost universally-shared sacrament of baptism; for others, baptism and the eucharist. Still other see catholicity as requiring, and being constituted by, a higher degree of communion, with shared mutual accountability, a shared episcopacy, shared sacraments, etc, etc. At the risk of oversimplifying, the view of the Roman Catholics is not that the various protestant denominations are not catholic; they are catholic by virtue of baptism and the other elements they share with the universal church. It’s just that they are not as catholic as they should (in the Roman Catholic view) be. In other words, as far as Roman Catholics are concerned, catholicity is not a simple binary. It’s not that you are either catholic or not catholic; it’s that you are more or less catholic. Orthodox Christians are more catholic than Anglicans, who are more catholic than Lutherans, who are more catholic than . . etc. But none of them are quite as catholic as the Catholics. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/38 "2018-01-30T09:19:28Z")
In practice, from my direct experience with people who self-identify as evangelical, they would appear to be people who believe that the road to salvation is entered via an on-ramp with a toll-booth, at which the requirement for passage is the verbatim recitation of the phrase “I accept Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior”. Like an ATM, the toll-booth does not recognize other formulations, such as attempting to express one’s own understanding in one’s own words. It’s a passcode and has to be done exactly as provided. However, a succinct “I have been saved” can be utilized as the equivalent of EZ-Pass at any subsequent toll-booths that one encounters farther on down the highway, a phrase that indicates that one has already uttered the on-ramp recitation. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/39 "2018-01-30T11:38:01Z")
One point I haven’t seen mentioned is that the biblical literalist/fundamentalist tendency seems to focus on propagating the admonitions of the Old Testament rather to the detriment of the New. When I hear some of the ranting that goes on, I want to ask “And how do you reconcile that with the Sermon on the Mount”? (or whited sepulchres and all that). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747/40 "2018-01-30T12:06:02Z")
And the Apocalypsis. Many of them really really like the notion of Heaven having limited elbow space; note that at the same time they completely disregard that the same description which gives an exact number for the amount of people in Heaven says they come from the twelve tribes of Israel (Revelations 7). Both the headcount and the disregard of the tribal rolls are shared with the JWs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-evangelicals-distinct-from-other-christians/807747.md?page=3)