Today tiny Lebanon Baptist Church in Crawford County, Georgia, convenes in a business meeting and grapples with war, death and God’s will. Anguished over the loss of a solider member and his father, the congregation issues a statement “in memory of our deceased Brethren O. M. McAfee & A. J. McAfee.” In the midst of…
A week after U.S. Lt. John Henry Russell enters Confederate-controlled Pensacola harbor and destroys the Confederate schooner Judah, a crowd gathers at Hamilton Baptist Church in Harris County, Georgia, for the annual meeting of the Columbus Association. Grumbling discussion, condemnation, and fear spiked by this first naval action of the Civil War is surely on…
Opining in this week’s Christian Index, Georgia Baptist editor Samuel Boykin, appropriating the language of providence, situates the Confederacy both under God’s control and as a part of God’s Kingdom. He also castigates the North for driving down the value of southern slaves and thwarting the Christian South’s efforts to save the souls of southern…