Today Georgia Gov. Joseph Brown addresses the state’s General Assembly, convened in the capitol of the state capital, Milledgeville. Brown is a Southern Baptist and, by virtue of his political position, the most prominent Baptist of the state. His speech focuses on the war effort, including the need to convert cotton crops into food crops in order to feed hungry families; slavery; planters; white laborers; alcohol laws; transportation; smallpox; and economic issues.
In addition, the governor addresses the topic of “The Rights of Churches”:
I recommend the repeal of section 1376 of the Code [of Georgia], which prohibits “any church, society, or other body, or any persons, to grant license or other authority, to any slave or free person of color, to preach or exhort, or otherwise officiate in church matters.” I entertain no doubt, that negroes are sometimes very useful among their own people as preachers or exhorters. This is a question of which the church of the Living God, and not the legislature of a State, is the proper judge. The loyal support which the churches of all religious denominations have given to the Confederacy and State Governments, and the aid which they have afforded the government, in the maintenance of our slavery institutions, have demonstrated, that they understand this question, and may safely be trusted. The legislature under the pretence of police regulation or otherwise, therefore, has no right to infringe upon religious liberty, or usurp the power which belongs to the churches. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s, in an injunction which the State has no right to disregard.
Churches, in short, are expected to be loyal to the Confederacy and her foundation of African slavery, but the government (national and states) should not dictate to the churches the manner in which slaves are to be involved in congregational life, thus representing a watered-down view of the historic Baptist position of church state separation.
Meanwhile, black Baptists work ever more determinedly within the walls of integrated churches for increasing autonomy within the religious sphere.
In closing his speech, Gov. Brown invokes the blessings of God:
Humbly imploring a continuation of the Divine favor, let us resolve to stand in our allotted places, make all the sacrifices necessary, and place our entire trust in the God of Israel, who is “a very present help in trouble,” and all will yet be well.
The hope of the white South is that God will save his privileged people.
The hope of the black South is that God will save his enslaved people.
And so the struggle for God’s favor plays out both on the battlefield and in the nation’s churches.
Source: “Message of His Excellency, Joseph E. Brown, to the General Assembly, Convened in the Capitol by His Proclamation, March 25th, 1863” (link)
