questions about terminology

[Beth]

Thank you, Amy Z, David, Terry and everyone else for such insightful 
discussion on the subject of Christians and HP. This has long 
troubled me and I think that examining has really helped me to begin 
to understand, even if I haven't been brave enough to broach the 
subject with my Dad again.

I do have another question regarding terminology. A friend and I 
were talking about these words, labels if you will, that we keep 
applying to certain Christians. She had been described anonymously 
to another committee member as fundamentalist, and therefore someone 
this person did not want to be in a group with. We weren't sure 
where the label came from, what this person meant, and why it would 
necessarily  be a bad thing (as it seems to be in this particular 
Presbyterian church), since fundamentals seem, well, basic and 
therefore important. Sooo... can someone point me to a description 
of various "labels" of Christians? What does evangelical mean and 
why does it sometimes seem interchangeable with fundamentalist? Does 
a "liberal" Christian believe in liberal politics or some "liberal 
theology"? You'd think I'd know all this, having grown up in a 
church, but there's really no Sunday School class covering it! And 
the media doesn't really explain every time they describe someone a 
certain way.

Beth, who is looking for an online dictionary for such a purpose 
right now