Alright. Fair enough. Although, again, since we're talking about how the depiction of paladins has changed over time, it's pretty hard not to include 5e.
Nothing in this thread is a "bedrock cornerstone" type question. Not really sure where that's coming from.
But, in any case, pointing to other games isn't helping.
If this was a 5e thread, I would completely dismiss the premise.
Alignment is nearly dead.
Paladins are not sworn to a God.
Gods hardly matter.
Nearly 0 species can be called Evil.
The Paladin of 5e, is so far removed from the concerns of the OP, it's just not a thing.
Go back to the 70s, and there's something to it. Go back further, to what informed D&D, to the society it came from, to again, what created what I refer to as the Western Fantasy Tradition?
Yeah, there's an argument to be made, and that goes beyond game systems.
A Paladin, in many sources of fiction, is a Fanatic. A Fanatic in full plate, sworn to a God, and ready and willing to spread the word or defend the flock.
That's been a problem, and has the potential to upset some people.
5e really never covered God's well, and I think that was intentional, because it gets messy. Paladins in some editions, very much rubbed up on that space.