God forbid we use science

[kandrathe]

Wikipedia also has a list of churches who belong to the National Association of Evangelicals in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Asso...r_denominations

It contains Pentecostals, Baptists, Reformeds, Wesleyans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and (suprising to me) Mennonites, among others. -Jester

Yes, but we are talking about people and their beliefs. Not a church membership list, or those churches that have joined an association. In the context of the NAE, the concept of "evangelical" means that the denomination embraces the concept of Christians sharing their faith with others (being open about what they believe), and sometimes also proselytizing (actively seeking to convert people outside the sect or religion). So what I am saying is that Baptists may be evangelical, but not all Baptists are evangelical. It is more worthwhile then to ask people what they believe, rather than telling them what to believe based on which church they attend(ed). When you blame the impetus for abstinence education on evangelicals (using the broad brush strokes), to me that is akin to blaming the impetus for fascism on Italians or Germans. Some evangelicals probably do believe in abstinence only education, but not all of them and maybe not even a majority of them. What we need is a survey of people who believe in abstinence-only education for all age groups. When you say " If it makes you feel differently about the argument, substitute "fundamentalist" for "evangelical" in my previous statements. It's just semantics, really." then I think we agree that there is really no accurate way to predict who is an evangelical unless you survey people about their beliefs on both evangelicalism, or fundamentalism, or being born-again and also then ask them about their views on abstinence only education in schools across various age groups. Based on the number of Christians who do opt out of public education, I would guess they object to more than just the sex education program.

Here is a good link to a healthy approach to the topic. Center for AIDS Prevention Studies -- and I notice they are politically astute enough to not point their fingers at any one group of people. I think the topic is as complicated as they alude, abstinence education makes sense for 12 year olds, but for a high school senior it probably does not make sense. So, what role do the parents have in public education? Your answer is to opt out of public school, and I agree with that for other reasons, like finding a school with a focus on academic achievement.

So, an anecdote for you... My dearly departed Dad, who was a red necked protestant Christian blue collar truck driver and voted a straight Democratic ticket his entire life believed that to teach high school aged children about sex was like handing a running chain saw to a five year old. He would not have described himself as an "Evangelical", even though he believed in evangelism. I think the word "Evangelical" as used in the US today (and how you seemed to use it) to describe a conservative right wing Republican religious movement characterized by Bob Jones University, Jerry Falwell, and the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

So, here also from wikipedia,
"However, the Christian Right is not made completely (or even a majority) of Evangelical Christians. According to an article in the November 11, 2004 issue of The Economist, entitled "The Triumph of the Religious Right", "The implication of these findings is that Mr Bush's moral majority is not, as is often thought, composed of a bunch of right-wing evangelical Christians. Rather, it consists of traditionalist and observant church-goers of every kind: Catholic and mainline Protestant, as well as evangelicals, Mormons, Sign Followers, you name it. Meanwhile, modernist evangelicals (yes, there are a few) tend to be Democratic." Although evangelicals are currently seen as being on the Christian Right in the United States, there are those in the center and Christian Left as well. Evangelicalism"