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What's in a name? It doesn't matter if you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent voter. This last year of debates and primaries probably drew you into the drama of national politics. I was surprised when I found myself checking to see who won the Puerto Rico primary on a Sunday afternoon in June. Meaning no insult to Puerto Ricans, I must confess, before this year I didn't know that Puerto Rico held a primary.

Each day, news commentators report the statistical breakdown of the voting population in contested states with the enthusiasm that usually accompanies the stats of a Red Sox vs. Yankees series. I suspect that as we prepare for the general election in November, this level of reporting will only increase.

Within all of this excitement, there are two religious "groups" that always seem to show up in the polls: Catholics and Evangelicals. The way the data is presented we are often led to believe that these churches are actually political organizations and their respective leaders have coerced their adherents to vote in a certain way. Being a religious leader in our community, I'm amazed anyone would think this is true or possible.

Seriously, have you ever sat through a religious or civic meeting in our community and seen everyone naively agree with the leader on every point? That is not how our community or our nation works. As Americans we value both reflective thought and personal opinion. As Christians, we believe both are gifts from God.

In the past few years, like many individuals with an evangelical heritage, I have found myself hesitant to identify my faith with "Evangelicalism." This is not because I disagree with the foundational beliefs of the Evangelical movement, but because I do not want to be identified with the cultural stereotype of an Evangelical.

I'm aware that this stereotype has not been created solely by the media. I have been embarrassed as certain religious leaders claim to be the voice of the American Evangelical Church and have self-proclaimed their authority to speak on behalf of the Evangelical Church as a whole. However, in reality, there isn't any such entity as the Evangelical Church. Rather, evangelicalism is a movement built around a conservative understanding of the Bible. According to Barna Research, Evangelical beliefs and people professing to be Evangelicals can be found in every Christian denomination, both Catholic and Protestant.

If you believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, the deity of Jesus Christ, his Virgin birth, and the atonement of sin through Christ's death on the cross and his bodily resurrection - be careful, you could qualify as an "Evangelical."

Beyond adhering to that set of beliefs, Evangelicals express their faith and worship of God through many diverse liturgical practices and traditions. Evangelicals should be considered conservative because they desire to live their lives consistent with the teachings of the Bible and, in particular, with the life of Jesus Christ. That fact should not be misinterpreted to include a bias toward any political party.

Evangelicals are not fundamentalists as the stereotype often has been portrayed. Historian George Marsden notes that the late Rev. Jerry Falwell described a fundamentalist as "an Evangelical who is angry about something" as a quick definition for reporters. Unfortunately, these two positions may be forever linked as a cultural stereotype.

There is a larger point to be made here than defending Evangelicalism from cultural mischaracterization. In our globalized world of instant information and mass communication, it is important to remember that every group (religious or otherwise) is comprised of individual persons who are made in God's image, and thus are valuable to him and to one another. We devalue ourselves and each other when we allow personal or media biases to influence our appreciation of each other's uniqueness.

Today, with the many challenges facing our community, nation, and world, we need to remember that the person is not the group. When we truly meet each person as an individual loved and valued by God, we will discover what we share in common that joins us is far more important than any differences that can divide us. Go Red Sox!

Dennis Baril is the senior pastor of Community Covenant Church in Rehoboth, a position he has held since 1989. He can be reached at www.communitycovenant.org.