Baptist Church

Baptist Church One of the largest evangelical Protestant churches which stresses the authority of the Holy Scripture, adult baptism, and the autonomy of local congregations. It originated in sixteenth-century Anabaptist movements whose leaders came to England as they were persecuted elsewhere in Europe. During the nineteenth century, Baptists spread rapidly in both Britain and the USA, where they became the largest religious community in many southern states. There, Black Baptist congregations (around two-thirds of African-American church membership is Baptist) grew after the Civil War and contributed significantly to Black culture. Many Baptist ministers came to be at the forefront of the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably Martin Luther King. In the US, Baptists are organized in four Conventions, of which the Southern Convention has been a particularly vociferous opponent of the legalization of abortion. There are over thirty-five million Baptists worldwide, whose unity is promoted through the Baptist World Alliance in Washington DC (founded 1905).

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