Southern Baptist Convention — Bunk History

Black preacher giving an antislavery sermon to an integrated audience.

Baptists, Slavery, and the Road to Civil War

Baptists were never monolithic on the issue of slavery, but Southern Baptists were united in their opposition to Northern Baptists determining their beliefs.

by Obbie Tyler Todd via The London Lyceum on November 14, 2022

Colorful illustration of gladiator-like figure with sword surrounded by various phrases and people, all relating to the Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Deal With the Devil

Fifty years ago, zealots preaching misogyny and homophobia—led by an accused sexual predator—took over America’s largest Protestant denomination.

by Sarah Posner via The Nation on September 12, 2022

Johnathan Edwards.

How Jonathan Edwards Influenced Southern Baptists

Southern Baptists were seeking a religion of the heart, and in Edwards they discovered a trove of treatises, biographies, and sermons on Christian spirituality.

by Obbie Tyler Todd via The Gospel Coalition on July 29, 2022

Attendees pray during a worship service at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Anaheim, California, on June 14, 2022.

The History of Southern Baptists Shows They Have Not Always Opposed Abortion

How the Southern Baptist Convention’s views on abortion changed during the 1980s, when a more conservative wing seized control of the denomination.

by Susan M. Shaw via The Conversation on June 17, 2022

Sign for the Community of Faith church in Houston, lit up at night near dark railroad tracks.

The Racist Roots of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sex Scandal “Apocalypse”

The Southern Baptist Convention is tearing itself apart over its leaders’ long-running cover-up of abusers in its ranks. But there’s a deeper reckoning below.

by Audrey Clare Farley via The New Republic on May 30, 2022

Critical Race Theory is Just the Latest Battle

A new book shows how southern evangelicals looked to the Bible to justify their opposition to racial integration.

by Christopher D. Cantwell via Religion Dispatches on July 7, 2021

Sexism Has Long Been Part of the Culture of Southern Baptists

While sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention has recently come to light, it's not new.

by Susan M. Shaw via The Conversation on March 6, 2019

Southern Baptist Convention’s Flagship Seminary Details Its Racist, Slave-Owning Past

"We are living in an age of historical reckoning," said Southern Baptist leader R. Albert Mohler Jr.

by Marisa Iati via Washington Post on December 12, 2018

Steve Gaines, prays with his wife at the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention meeting.

Southern Baptists, Gender Hierarchy, and the Road to Trump

Many Southern Baptists in the 1970s supported abortion rights and gender equality. What happened?

by R. Marie Griffith via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on July 10, 2018

Baptist minister and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Mike Huckabee speaks at a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Little Rock, Ark., May 8, 1992. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

A Mike Huckabee Connection With the Holy Land You Didn’t Know

The Southern Baptist Convention’s oldest, most direct ties to the Holy Land were established by a Palestinian Arab.

by Walker Robins via Baptist News Global on November 26, 2024

In 1992, a fire burns out of control at 67th Street and West Boulevard in South Central Los Angeles. (Paul Sakuma/AP)

The L.A. Uprisings Sparked an Evangelical Racial Reckoning

But it remains unfinished.

by Jane H. Hong via Made By History on April 29, 2022

Man holding up a sign during the Capitol Siege

The Post-Trump Crack-Up of the Evangelical Community

Its embrace of an ignominious president is forcing a long-overdue reckoning with the movement’s embrace of white supremacy and illiberal politics.

by Audrey Clare Farley via The New Republic on March 16, 2021

Religious Groups Are Fighting Trump to Keep Families Together

But they didn’t always oppose ripping kids from their parents.

by William S. Cossen via Made By History on June 19, 2018

Billy Graham at the pulpit.

Billy Graham’s Legacy

A roundup of historians' commentary about Billy Graham in the wake of his death.

by Melani McAlister via Process: A Blog for American History on March 21, 2018

Billy Graham at a speaker's podium (Photo by Ninian Reid).

The Preacher and Vietnam: When Billy Graham Urged Nixon to Kill One Million People

The disclosure of Billy Graham's recommendation of war crimes did not exicte any commotion.

by Alexander Cockburn, Jeffrey St. Clair via CounterPunch on September 27, 2017

Group of men including clergy.

Unearthing The Surprising Religious History Of American Gay Rights Activism

Years before Stonewall, many clergy members were standing on the front lines for gay rights.

by Jaweed Kaleem via HuffPost on June 28, 2014

Manifest Destiny painting by Gast.

'Pure White' Examines the White Supremacist Origins of Evangelical Purity Culture

The new podcast discusses how purity is woven into many of the myths that have fed White supremacy in the nation’s past and continue to do so today.

by Sara Moslener, Emma Cieslik via Religion Dispatches on December 18, 2023

Lt. Col. Oliver North in 1987 before testifying to a committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal.

The 1980s Hearings That Explain Why Trump’s Base Still Loves Him

Bombshell revelations won’t hurt the former president with his core supporters. We have only to look at Oliver North to know why.

by Kristin Kobes Du Mez via Made By History on June 29, 2022

Abortion rights demonstrators confront an antiabortion protester on May 14 outside the Supreme Court.

What Everyone Gets Wrong About Evangelicals and Abortion

Evangelicals started speaking out against legal abortion long before the late 1970s.

by Gillian Frank, Neil J. Young via Made By History on May 16, 2022

Image from front cover of Bad Faith.

The Evangelical Abortion Myth

The rhetoric about abortion being the catalyst for the rise of the Religious Right collapses under scrutiny.

by Randall Balmer via Religion Dispatches on August 30, 2021

James Dobson speaking at a Focus on the Family event

The Eugenics Roots of Evangelical Family Values

Although they have different beliefs, eugenicists and evangelicals have historically worked together to further a joint agenda.

by Audrey Clare Farley via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on May 12, 2021

The word slavery in a dictionary crossed out

We Found the Textbooks of Senators Who Oppose The 1619 Project and Suddenly Everything Makes Sense

To our surprise, most received a well-rounded education on the history of Black people in America. Just kidding.

by Michael Harriot via The Root on May 6, 2021

Linda Kay Klein as a teenager

Shamed Over Sex, a Generation Confronts the Past

Former followers of an evangelical “purity” movement that promoted a strict view of abstinence are grappling with aftershocks.

via Retro Report on April 6, 2021

Political Scientist Angie Maxwell on Countering the 'Long Southern Strategy'

For decades, the Republican Party has used what's known as "the Southern Strategy" to win white support in the region.

by Angie Maxwell, Benjamin Barber via Facing South on January 22, 2021

QAnon Didn't Just Spring Forth From the Void

Calling QAnon a "cult" or "religion" hides how its practices are born of deeply American social and political traditions.

by Adam Willems, Megan Goodwin via Religion Dispatches on September 10, 2020

Racism Among White Christians is Higher Than Among the Nonreligious. That's no Coincidence.

For most of American history, the light-skinned Jesus conjured up by white congregations demanded the preservation of inequality as part of the divine order.

by Robert P. Jones via NBC News on July 28, 2020

'Evangelical' Has Lost Its Meaning

A term that once described a vital tradition within the Christian faith now means something else entirely.

by Alan Jacobs via The Atlantic on September 22, 2019

'I Love America': Fundamentalist Responses to World War II

The fundamentalist movement took the war as an opportunity to rebrand.

by Anderson Rouse via Process: A Blog for American History on March 12, 2019

Why Putin is an Ally for American Evangelicals

American evangelicals once saw the Soviet Union and other communist countries as the world’s greatest threat to their faith.

by Melani McAlister via The Conversation on September 4, 2018

Billy Graham and Richard Nixon

The King’s Chapel and the King’s Court

Richard Nixon, Billy Graham, and their White House church services.

by Kevin M. Kruse via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on July 7, 2015

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