Although a mass exodus of black members from white-led Baptist churches of the South is well underway, many post-war Southern Baptist churches retain large numbers of black members. In instances where blacks vastly outnumber white members, the whites often are fearful that the majority black members will gain control of the church. Accordingly, many churches…
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, during the war a member of the Confederate States House of Representatives and an officer in the Confederate Army, is a prominent Southern Baptist. Now, he serves as the president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention and of Baptists’ Howard College. In January 1866 he is ordained to the Baptist ministry.…
Southern Baptist newspaper editors in the post-war months find much to criticize about the religious newspapers of the North. This week’s Virginia Baptist Religious Herald accuses the “Northern Religious Press” of “Secularity.” Pretending surprise of “the degree in which the religious papers of the North are devoted to politics,” the writer is silent on the…