A pseudonymous Baptist from Jefferson, Georgia this week poses (among other queries) the question of why some Baptist churches of the Confederacy are not allowing African slave members to sing in church services. I see a practice beginning to take root and develope itself in some of our country churches, against which I enter my…
Not surprisingly, Baptists North and South routinely speak unfavorably of their national counterparts. Rhetoric flows from pulpits and in print, the latter being more common in the South simply because there are far more Baptist newspapers operating in the Confederacy than in the United States. In addition, the war is almost exclusively battled on Southern…
This week, readers of the Georgia Baptist Christian Index receive a good dose of commentary concerning the need to allow African slaves to read the Bible. The argument takes place against the backdrop of some laws in the Confederate states that disallow the practice, growing out of a suspicion that reading skills will further foster…