I’ve been wanting to know that since the Left invented that term 10 years ago to refer to Christians of some sort.”
I am sure neither the author nor anyone else at the NYT knows what an Evangelical or a devout Christian is.
They just make up things like this to insult and ridicule people of faith.
No, it has a rich history, and once was basically the same as "fundamentalist," and denotes a conservative movement, but usually such are defined as being "born again" (which is not necessarily the same), or being in a conservative denom, or with Barna, as holding to certain basic doctrines.
See here http://www.peacebyjesus.com/RC-Stats_vs._Evang.html#Evangelical