In 1846, one year after Baptists North and South had divided over the issue of African slavery, white and black Baptists in Stonington, Connecticut reached a mutual decision regarding their respective but related future. African members of the First Baptist Church petitioned their white brethren: Beloved Brethren: Believing that the time has come when the…
White Southern preachers, most of whom are loyal to the Confederacy, are being singled out for punishment by the United States government, should the North win the war. Or so claims one Southern Baptist newspaper editor. Our enemies encouraged, and made confident of success, by their recent victories, are trying to decide what to do…
During the war, many white Southerners repeatedly refer to the “Cause” of the South, a reference (sometimes blatant, and at other times thinly-veiled) to the preservation of African slavery, the economic and social foundation of the Confederacy. Many white Christians of the South insist that the Southern “Cause” is the will of God, a view…