Southern Baptist Churches Research Articles

Why did Southern Christians maintain their pro-slavery stance before and during the Civil War

The paper explores the reasons behind Southern Christians’ staunch pro-slavery stance before and during the American Civil War, focusing on the religious perspective rather than the more commonly studied economic aspects. The paper examines how Southern Baptists, in particular, justified slavery as a part of their religious beliefs and identity, viewing it as a divinely sanctioned institution integral to their way of life. The paper highlights the role of the Southern Baptist Church (SBC) and its significant influence on the pro-slavery ideology, emphasizing the theological arguments made by Southern pastors and theologians. These religious leaders believed that slavery was morally and religiously justified and that the North’s attempts to abolish it were an infringement on their religious freedom. The study utilizes both primary and secondary sources, including speeches and letters from Southern Baptist leaders, to illustrate how deeply entrenched these beliefs were in Southern Christian thought, ultimately arguing that this religious justification was a central factor in the South’s resistance to abolition.

Liberty as a Cloak for Vice: Orientation and Order in the Southern Baptist Convention Sexual Abuse Scandal

ABSTRACT In 2019 a series of articles detailing decades of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches. Reports revealed that the convention and its congregants downplayed rather than confront the abuses by relying on two doctrinal components, congregational autonomy and scriptural inerrancy, to excuse inaction and silence survivors. Kenneth Burke argues that orientations such as the Southern Baptist Convention is governed by a moral order that is established, maintained, and enforced by a group of rhetors he terms “priests” who are granted ownership of the key rhetorical components. Building from Burke’s positions, I argue that when confronted by moral failings, priests will use their associations with the symbols of authority in an orientation to rationalize inaction. Priests will argue that to act would be to reject core terms in the orientation’s identity and rely on communal allegiance to bypass responsibility. This rhetorical maneuver is demonstrated in the Southern Baptist sexual abuse scandal. The leadership of the convention and local congregations relied on key denominational terms to champion inaction when confronted. However, a closer inspection of their rhetoric on other issues, such as women in ministry and LGBTQIA + issues shows that their operations are more complicated than advertised.

Alabama Historical Association Markers, 2019

Alabama Historical Association Markers, 2019 Scotty E. Kirkland (bio) From 1961 to 2003, thealabama review routinely published the texts of historical markers placed by the Association at sites of interest and significance across the state. Beginning in 2009, publication moved to the Association’s biannual newsletter. During the past two years, the number of new markers proved too lengthy for the newsletter, thanks in part to an increased interest in marking historic sites during the commemoration of Alabama’s bicentennial. The texts of the markers placed by the Association in 2019 are included below. CHILTON COUNTY CHILTON COUNTY HISTORY Established by the Alabama Legislature on December 30, 1868, from land obtained from Autauga, Bibb, Perry, and Shelby counties. Originally designated Baker County for Alfred Baker, postmaster, justice of the peace, state legislator, and founder of the city of Clanton. First county seat was Grantville, named for President Ulysses S. Grant, located one mile northeast of present courthouse site. Following a public referendum held in April 1871, the county seat [End Page 149] relocated to Clanton along the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. A two-story wood-frame courthouse, constructed at the intersection of Second Avenue North and Sixth Street, served as the new seat of county government. In response to a petition by residents, the name of the county was changed on December 17, 1874, to honor former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court William Parish Chilton. An all-brick courthouse was constructed in 1896 but was damaged by fire in 1918. Rebuilt in 1919, the building served the people of the county until February 1962 when a new courthouse facility was dedicated. Known as the “Peach Capital of Alabama,” local orchards produce more than two-thirds of the total yield of Alabama’s leading commercial fruit. In celebration of this agricultural export, the inaugural Chilton County Peach Festival was held in July 1947 at the Thorsby Institute. Organizers had a prize-winning basket of Hale Haven peaches delivered to President Harry Truman in Washington, D.C. The Coosa River on the eastern border of the county became the site of the first Alabama Power Company hydro-electric project in the state. Completed in 1914, Lay Dam was constructed on the Army Corps of Engineers Lock 12 site and named for William Patrick Lay, founder of the Alabama Power Company. Mitchell Dam, erected at Dunkin’s Riffle and completed in 1923, is named for former Alabama Power Company President James Mitchell. The establishment of rail systems, the Dixie Bee-Line Highway, and the interstate highway system significantly affected the growth and development of communities within the county. [500 2nd Avenue North, Clanton] EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH On July 31, 1819, Ebenezer Baptist Church was constituted by Isaac Suttle, Lewis C. Davis (“Old Club Axe”), and William Harrod. The first house of worship was a large log house located one mile south of this site, near Bogle’s Creek. After fire destroyed the log [End Page 150] structure, a second building was constructed here on this site in the 1830s, on the hill where the pastorium now stands. On April 1, 1865, this property dedicated to God became a Civil War battleground. Known as the “Battle of Ebenezer Church,” the brief but fierce engagement pitted more than 1,500 Confederate cavalrymen under the command of Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest against a larger Union force led by Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson, en route to Selma. Forrest was wounded during the fighting here. Union forces captured 300 Confederates and seized three artillery pieces. The Union dead from the battle were buried in the church cemetery on the hill. The following day, Wilson’s forces captured and destroyed the Selma Ordinance and Naval Foundry, one of the Confederacy’s last remaining industrial and manufacturing centers. The Civil War-era church burned in 1917. A new edifice was built around 1919. Dedicated on the occasion of the church’s 200th anniversary. [5349 AL-22, Stanton] COLBERT COUNTY FIRST SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH Near the turn of the twentieth century, residents of Houston Crossroads became concerned that their community had no church or school. In 1895, John Schluttenhofer deeded an acre of...

Cultural Significance of Changing Conservative Baptist Worship : Doom of Religious Culture in Entertainment Age?

The study is to discuss how modern popular culture influences the church in terms of the relationship between worship and culture. The author assumes that worship is the comprehensive cultural actualization of the church, in which the inside and outside cultures of the church encounter each other. The author is particularly interested in popular culture’s impact on conservative congregations. The conservative churches are supposed to stand against secular culture. This supposition is not so clear and convincing as to articulate always the borderline between secular culture and non-secular culture. Conservatism today in religious domain may be quite ideological; we may face a secular conservatism in actuality. The article takes the Southern Baptist Convention churches for a typical case to inquire into the subject matter. The churches are not only one of the representative conservative churches but also the largest protestant denominational group in North America the most influential protestant region in the modern world. Above all, the Southern Baptist churches have inherited the Separatist tradition of England and the old continent, which struggled to separate the church from state and the less Christian multitude. The separatist ideal was to establish pure church in both spirituality and culture. In addition to the separatist heritage, the Southern Baptists are sectionalized by their environmental peculiarities. All these notwithstanding, the Southern Baptist churches adopt show business culture into their worship after all. Methodologically the study is not to analyse the current secular aspects of the Souther Baptist worship but to trace back the historical developments of the traditions so as to find out what possibly made them as they are now from their own perspective. And the research does not find any definite causal relation between the past and the present. What this means is that secular culture in their worship is an accidental intrusion from the outside. The article shows that the force for such intrusion is the ubiquitous dissemination of modern mass culture propelled by the modern technology and media, whose persuasive appeal lies in entertainment as against the expositive Christian traditional culture.

Living Testaments: How Catholic and Baptist Women in Ministry Both Judge and Renew the Church

In 2014 women constituted 15.8% of u.s. clergy. They led 10% of u.s. congregations. While the numbers have increased dramatically in fifty years, this data invites a deeper question. What does women’s entry into ministry (lay and ordained) mean for ecclesiology, the life and doctrines of the church? Four case studies from two qualitative investigations of ministry illustrate women’s pastoral leadership from the margins of Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist churches, showing how women called to ministry are: living testaments to a renewed vision for church that embraces the fullness of humanity; living judgments on harms and shortcomings of the church; embodied revisions to ecclesial practices. Each case study bears witness to situated possibility of the Spirit’s work; exposes and challenges sins of sexism; shows every day dilemmas over resisting and subverting power; and reframes doctrine and practice from the margins, renewing ecclesial vision for the church.

Such as These: Exploring Conversations with Southern Baptist Children about Conversion and Baptism

The history of Baptists describes their changing views of conversion and baptism of children. This qualitative research was designed to explore how 22 children, their parents/guardians, pastors, and other leaders from 14 Southern Baptist churches describe the phenomenon of conversion and baptism in the lives of the boys and girls. The research revealed that leaders in the faith community play a significant role in conversion, language of the faith can assist and distract from understanding, and children are influenced by the need to be included or by concern related to exclusion.

“Just a Bunch of Agitators”: Kneel-Ins and the Desegregation of Southern Churches

AbstractCivil rights protests at white churches, dubbed “kneel-ins,” laid bare the racial logic that structured Christianity in the American South. Scholars have investigated segregationist religion, but such studies tend to focus on biblical interpretation rather than religious practice. A series of kneel-ins at Atlanta's First Baptist Church, the largest Southern Baptist church in the Southeast, shows how religious activities and religious spaces became sites of intense racial conflict. Beginning in 1960, then more forcefully in 1963, African American students attempted to integrate First Baptist's sanctuary. When they were alternately barred from entering, shown to a basement auditorium, or carried out bodily, their efforts sparked a wide-ranging debate over racial politics and spiritual authenticity, a debate carried on both inside and outside the church. Segregationists tended to avoid a theological defense of Jim Crow, attacking instead the sincerity and comportment of their unwanted visitors. Yet while many church leaders were opposed to open seating, a vibrant student contingent favored it. Meanwhile, mass media—local, national, and international—shaped interpretations of the crisis and possibilities for resolving it. Roy McClain, the congregation's popular minister, attempted to navigate a middle course but faced criticism from all sides. The conflict came to a head when Ashton Jones, a white minister, was arrested, tried, and imprisoned for protesting outside the church. In the wake of the controversy, the members of First Baptist voted to end segregation in the sanctuary. This action brought formal desegregation—but little meaningful integration—to the congregation.

Spiritual and Religious Communication: Intragroup Conflict among Southern Baptist Pastors

This ethnographic study examines pastoral intragroup conflict in a U.S. Southern Baptist church. In-depth interviewing and participant observation were employed. Specifically, we elicited, through formal interviews, direct statements from six practicing Southern Baptist pastors on the reasons for, prevalence, and results of such interpersonal or intragroup conflict in Baptist denominational leaderships. Findings from these efforts revealed the dynamics and corollaries of such conflict in Southern Baptist denomination in general. As the sources of such conflict are diverse, we argue that qualitatively analyzing and reporting on this subject are of value to communication scholars. Areas for future research are also addressed.

True Love Waits: Do Southern Baptists? Premarital Sexual Behavior Among Newly Married Southern Baptist Sunday School Students

This study measures premarital sex prevalence, sources of sex education, and support for secular sex education among 151 newly married young adults surveyed at 9 Texas Southern Baptist churches. More than 70% of respondents reported having had premarital vaginal or oral sex, but more than 80% regretted premarital sex. The proportion of premarital sex exceeded 80% in 6 of 9 churches, among men and women married after age 25 and women married before age 21. School sex education was the only source of information about sexually transmitted infections for 57% of respondents, and 65% supported secular sex education despite church opposition.

Just As I Am Not: A Poet Visits the Billy Graham Library

Just As I Am Not:A Poet Visits the Billy Graham Library Michael McFee (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution In the beginning, Billy Graham was a raw, tall, dashing preacher, on fire for the Lord, burning to save souls one by one; then he became the leader of a worldwide Evangelistic Association, responsible not just for converting sinners but also for the enormous gospel machinery he'd set into motion. Billy Graham, 1966, photographed by Warren K. Leffler, from the U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, courtesy of the Collections of the Library of Congress. [End Page 90] Music is in the very air at the Billy Graham Library. From the moment you leave the massive asphalt parking lot, hymns rise like a holy fog from the ground, through squat green speakers lining the sidewalks and crossing the grass, constantly piping "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" or "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name." It's vaguely soothing and a bit spooky, as if you're standing above a choir in a cavern, or walking over lost souls stranded in subterranean purgatory on the outskirts of Charlotte, who lift up their heads and sing to us humans still on the surface of earth: Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty ascribe, and crown Him Lord of all! + Today is October 23, 2007, my mother-in-law's eightieth birthday. This day trip from Durham to the Library and back is her big gift. My wife and I have driven her here, a two-and-a-half hour trip on busy I-85; another gift is that my wife's youngest brother, an investment banker in the Queen City, "surprises" us on the entrance sidewalk, to his mother's delight. My mother-in-law belongs to a conservative Southern Baptist church, in which she and her husband (who died several years ago) raised their three children, none of whom are Baptists anymore. Through the decades, she has donated regularly to Christian organizations like Billy Graham's, so this is a pilgrimage for her, a visit to a sacred place: the home of the world's most famous and successful evangelist. + The first of the two buildings we enter, just past a split-rail fence, is the Graham Family Homeplace. That may conjure up humble dirt-floor log-cabin imagery, or—given that Billy's family ran a dairy—a simple farmstead; but in fact it's a solidly middle-class two-story house, moved here from a solidly middle-class Charlotte neighborhood a few miles away. The windows have trim black shutters, there are comfortable porches, and the gutters are in excellent shape (as a homeowner, you notice such things). Though only a few rooms are open to the public, you can peer into others, and if you're like me you think: Man, I wish I'd grown up in a place as nice as this. Wherever Billy's religious convictions came from, they didn't arise from privation. If the preacher-to-be wasn't privileged, he certainly wasn't suffering, either. His earliest origins on the dairy farm were likely more modest—like many non-urban Americans ninety years ago, he surely bathed in a washtub with his siblings, and used an outhouse—but once his family moved to this red brick neo-Colonial, [End Page 91] when he was nine years old, there was nothing rustic about where he lived during his adolescence. The Graham Homeplace is surprisingly bourgeois. + We exit the back door of the house, through a screened porch. The sky can't quite decide whether to rain or not, but the singers underfoot never hesitate, blessing our ankles: Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art! + The second building we enter—which looms behind the Homeplace like a shadow of the family's past, the hard work on the farm that made the fine house possible—is harder to fix in a phrase. On the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) website, it's described as a "barn-like structure" and a "dairy barn-styled library." It's not an...

Religious Market Competition and Clergy Salary: Evidence from SBC Congregations in the South

Abstract. We utilize a rich and unique data source covering 13,825 Southern Baptist Convention churches in seven Southern states to test the impact of religious market competition, or pluralism, on clergy salary. We link county‐level religious market and socioeconomic data to the county in which each church is located. Two measures of religious output market are used. One is a narrow output market definition calculated using only SBC churches. The other is a more broadly defined measure calculated using 132 Judeo‐Christian denominations. Using regression analysis, we conclude that greater concentration among Southern Baptist Churches' members within a given county area has a positive, and statistically significant, impact on Southern Baptist clergy salaries, while greater concentration among other denominations has no impact on Southern Baptist clergy salaries. Most importantly, we show that Southern Baptist Churches exhibit predictable economic behavior despite the ethereal nature of the product they provide.

Voting with a Hand on the Bible and Not on the Wallet: The 1996 Video Poker Referendum in Louisiana

Abstract. The 1996 gambling referendum in Louisiana provided a unique opportunity to study voters' preferences. At the time of the referendum, video poker machines legally operated in all of Louisiana's 64 parishes (counties). Video poker was voted down in 31 parishes and retained in 33 parishes. Voters also allowed the New Orleans land‐based casino and 15 riverboat casinos to continue their operations. The extant horse racing and pari‐mutuel betting were not voted on.We examine the economic, demographic, and religious factors that influenced how people voted on the issue of legalized video poker. This study is of interest because in recent years, legalized gambling has been expanding around the world. We know of no other referendum on gambling that covered an area as large as an entire U.S. state—all of Louisiana—and offered voters control over gambling in their locality.Months before the 1996 referendum, the news media suggested several factors that might determine the outcome of the vote. The media concluded that concern over jobs would be the major influence on the outcome. Other important factors included a campaign against gambling by Southern Baptist churches and the simultaneous national presidential election. We investigate whether these factors, along with demographic factors such as age and education, influenced the results of the gambling referendum.Surprisingly, we found no clear evidence that the economic health of a parish or the preexisting size of its gambling industry determined the vote. The presence of Southern Baptists in a parish increased the likelihood that gambling would be voted down. Democratic voters tended to vote for gambling, as did black voters. Age and education levels of voters did not appear to influence their votes on gambling. Voters in parishes that bordered other states were more likely to retain gambling. Overall, it appeared that personal values were more important in determining voter behavior than financial considerations. People were voting with their hearts, not their pocketbooks.

From Fear to Faith: Efficacy of Trauma Assessment Training for New York–Based Southern Baptist Church Groups

Post-9/11, many faith-based responders expressed the opinion that they were neither prepared nor trained to recognize the mental health needs of long-term trauma survivors. With funding through the Red Cross, an interdisciplinary trauma training program was developed to increase the capacity of the New York Southern Baptist Church groups to provide trauma assessment and support through the Metropolitan Baptist Association of New York. Through a pretest and posttest survey, the training was evaluated. Of the workshop attendees, 91% gave positive feedback and felt the training was worthwhile. The results suggest an ongoing need for interdisciplinary training that includes faith-based groups.

Evangelicals and Politics: A Rethinking

I understand my primary task in this essay to be to take you inside the world of evangelical political reflection and engagement. Though I actually grew up Roman Catholic and attended the liberal Union Theological Seminary in New York, I am by now an evangelical insider, rooted deeply in red state mid-South America, a member of a Southern Baptist church (actually, an ordained minister), a teacher at a Tennessee Baptist university, and a columnist for the flagship Christianity Today magazine. Due to the blue state/red state, liberal/conservative boundary-crossing that has characterized my background, I am often called upon to interpret our divided internal “cultures” one to another. Trained to be fair-minded and judicious in my analysis and judgments (though not always successful in meeting the standards of my training), I seek to help bridge the culture wars divide that is tearing our nation apart.As one deeply invested in American evangelicalism, most of my attention these days now goes to the internal conversation within evangelical life about our identity and mission, especially our social ethics and political engagement. In this essay I will focus extensively on problems I currently see with evangelical political engagement, addressing those from within the theological framework of evangelical Christianity and inviting others to listen in to what I am now saying to my fellow evangelicals.

The Production of a Beloved Community: Sesame Street's Answer to America's Inequalities

The children's public television program Sesame Street strived exemplify and create an egalitarian and more tolerant community both on screen and in actuality. Sesame Street's aim educate disadvantaged urban preschool children and put them on an equal intellectual level as their middle-class peers when they entered grade school was central the development and direction of the show. To appeal their audience, the producers designed reproduction of working-class, urban city block for television studio set and directed multiethnic and multilingual cast of human and puppet characters that taught fundamental skills for reading, writing, and mathematics as well as social practices of open-mindedness, tolerance, and goodwill. The diverse cast commingled and solved problems together in their neighborhood setting. With the debut on November 10, 1969, and at least three years prior of preparation and research, Sesame Street grew out of the era's milieu of the civil rights struggle and the effort of social reform. The vision and principles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s beloved community signified the central commitment of the show. The idea for beloved community developed long before King espoused his message the civil rights movement, but the concept became popular as result of his leadership and appeal. Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century thinkers Walter Rauschenbusch, Reinhold Niebhur, and Josiah Royce combined Christian doctrine and the practice of moral compassion define their ideal vision of beloved community (Zepp). By the mid-1950s, recognized as the beginning of the civil rights movement, King pronounced in speeches and published writings his primary goal as the fulfillment of such society. The roots of King's philosophy and the beliefs he carried throughout the movement remain in contention as scholars debate King's major influences and primary goals. Zepp situates King's influences in the history of American liberal theology, while James Cone and Richard Lischer find the source of King's position in the Southern Baptist Church and African American religious tradition. Throughout the movement, King's thinking proved anything but static, but his goals expressed in his publications and major speeches, designed for mostly white audience, emphasized nonviolence and the realization of beloved community. In beloved community, the diverse peoples of the United States and ultimately the world reconciled their differences, integrated, cooperated, and coexisted with one another. I have dream, King called out at the March 1963 on Washington that ... the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able sit down together at the table of brotherhood (qtd. in Carson and Shepard 85). He asked for peoples of all nationalities and religions join hands and respect one another (Carson and Shepard 87). Childhood is not simply time of innocence - free from the social and cultural pressures of the adult world -but defined by historical trends and political agendas. Joel Spring argues that, throughout its history, the behaviors and goals of the public school system have sustained the goal of cultural domination. Public schools particularly have become one form of what Spring calls ideological management (4), or the act of creating and dispersing knowledge throughout society. From its incipience, the public education system sought to manage the distribution of ideas m society (3) in order preserve and uphold democracy. Sesame Street became an example of such school; originally financed by the federal government and nonprofit organizations, the program educated children through the medium of television before they entered the school system. Spring argues that the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the production company behind Sesame Street, attempted shape public morality and present a standard as what the world should be like (384). …

A Taxonomy of Church Marketing Strategy Types

Strategy types or groupings provide a unique way of studying strategic issues. An underutilized application of strategic typing is in the nonprofit area, particularly with churches. A major decision area for churches relates to the strategy that determines the programs and ministries for the church to emphasize. No empirical studies have been reported that identify factors that differentiate various church strategies or an overall model of strategic configurations used by churches. Based on responses from 247 Southern Baptist churches, this article empirically determines the major factors that differentiate churches. Strategic configurations are determined and defined as "traditional," "programs-oriented, " and "worship-oriented." Each of these configurations is investigated for differences in operationalization through areas of program emphases, marketing communication methods, type of location, and church growth.

Appealing to the Unchurched: What Attracts New Members?

ABSTRACT The exploratory study that is the subject of this paper examines the importance of ten church service and program variables in the decision by members of different age cohorts to join a church. Variables that were investigated included aspects of the worship service; adult, children and senior education programs; and recreational activities. Two additional variables, denominational loyalty and the desire to be part of a spiritual community, were also investigated. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate the significance of each program as well as elements of the worship service. In addition, sources of information that members used prior to the first visit were examined. The most important resource was word-of-mouth. There were 460 respondents who were members of Southern Baptist and Unitarian Universalist churches located throughout the South and Southwest.

Validating Rotter’s (1966) locus of control scale with a sample of not‐for‐profit leaders

Attempts to validate Rotter’s locus of control scale with a sample of religious not‐for‐profit leaders. Uses a questionnaire sent to 558 senior pastors of Arkansas Southern Baptist churches. Findings are consistent with other reseachers who have highlighted some deficiencies in the scale and many resppondents struggled to answer some sections. Suggests that the scale should be re‐evaluated with less items.

Leaders’ risk propensity and age as determinants of organizational growth in the not‐for‐profit‐sector

States that there is little research into leaders of not‐for‐profit organizations, particularly in the private, religious sector. Attempts to discover if there is a relationship between organizational growth and a leader’s age and risk propensity and whether organizations are more likely to grow when they have leaders that are relatively young risk takers. Uses a sample of Southern Baptist Churches in Arkansas, USA, to investigate the theory. Concludes that risk propensity has a bigger impact than age.

Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and First Intercourse

Since 1993, in response to a movement sponsored by the Southern Baptist Church, over 2.5 million adolescents have taken public “virginity” pledges, in which they promise to abstain from sex until marriage. This paper explores the effect of those pledges on the transition to first intercourse. Adolescents who pledge are much less likely to have intercourse than adolescents who do not pledge. The delay effect is substantial. On the other hand, the pledge does not work for adolescents at all ages. Second, pledging delays intercourse only in contexts where there are some, but not too many, pledgers. The pledge works because it is embedded in an identity movement. Consequently, the pledge identity is meaningful only in contexts where it is at least partially nonnormative. Consequences of pledging are explored for those who break their promise. Promise breakers are less likely than others to use contraception at first intercourse.