Evangelical identity: What’s your story?

I know it’s not just me. At the very least, it’s me and Jonathan Dudley.

Here, again, is that opening paragraph from Dudley’s book Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics:

I learned a few things growing up as an evangelical Christian: that abortion is murder, homosexuality, sin; evolution, nonsense; and environmentalism, a farce. I learned to accept these ideas — the “big four” — as part of the package deal of Christianity. In some circles, I learned that my eternal salvation hinged on it. Those who denied them were outsiders, liberals, and legitimate targets for evangelism. If they didn’t change their minds after being “witnessed to,” they became legitimate targets for hell.

I’m a bit older than Dudley, so I’m old enough to remember when the “big four” was only the “big three” (about which more later), but apart from that this is perfectly familiar. Dudley’s description of his evangelical upbringing is also a precise description of my own experience.

But perhaps he and I are just misreading or misinterpreting our community. Maybe we’re being overly sensitive, or unfairly selective. Maybe we’re just ornery or confused or … weird.

So let’s collect some anecdata (no, that’s not a real word, but it’s a useful one) and hear from others who, like Dudley and I, were raised or shaped by American evangelical Christianity.

Is what he describes there familiar to you? Based on your experience, is he overstating the case, or were abortion, homosexuality and evolution presented to you as part of the “package deal”? Were alternative views on these matters permitted or accepted? Or did deviation from the official views render one, as Dudley says, an “outsider” to be viewed with suspicion or hostility?

So, what’s your story?