Southern Baptist Convention

The Definitive History of Southern Baptists in Alabama: Convention, Race Relations (1998)

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The Alabama Baptist Convention (ABC or ABSC) is an autonomous association of Baptist churches in the state of Alabama. It is one of the state conventions associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Formed in 1823, members of ABC churches became strongly attached to supporting the institution of slavery during increased sectional tensions of the mid-nineteenth century. It supported withdrawing financial support and participation from the national organization, and was one of the original nine state conventions to send delegates to the first Southern Baptist Convention, organized in 1845. In 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to adopt a resolution renouncing its racist roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery. ABC churches and denominational leadership were supportive of this apology. The Alabama State Convention was formed in 1823 at the Salem Church just outside Greensboro, Alabama,[1][5] primarily through the instigation of James A. Ranaldson, a Baptist from Louisiana. For the first few years, its members were primarily delegations from Baptist missionary societies, reflecting the frontier nature of the Alabama territory at the time. Later the delegates came from individual Baptist churches and regional associations as well. Prominent members of the convention in the early years included Hosea Holcombe, Alexander Travis, James McLemore, Dempsey Winborne, Sion Blythe, Charles Crow, A. G. McCrow, and Joseph Ryan. The Convention made financial contributions to the Baptist General Convention of the United States, as well as providing financial support for Adoniram Judson's translation of the Bible into Burmese, to support the Baptist mission in Burma. At the ABSC's tenth annual session, in 1833, which was held at Grant's Creek Church in Tuscaloosa County, the convention resolved to found an educational institution, to be called the Manual Labor Seminary. But, this project foundered after five years.[1] In Alabama, local Baptists founded Judson College for women in 1838; and Howard College for men in 1841. Wealthy members donated funds to create a statewide newspaper, the Alabama Baptist, in 1843. The Board of Domestic Missions (later called the Home Mission Board) was established in 1845; all were signs of the denomination's growth and maturing in the state. In the years of increasing sectional tensions about the Baptist Church's position on slavery and abolition prior to the American Civil War, some Northern members opposed the appointment as missionaries of Southern Baptists who were slaveholders. Objecting to this infringement on their culture, in 1844, the ABSC passed the "Alabama Resolutions". Included was the following: 2. Resolved, That our duty at this crisis requires us to demand from the proper authorities in all those bodies to whose funds we have contributed, or with whom we have in any way been connected, the distinct, explicit, avowal that slaveholders are eligible, and entitled, equally with non-slaveholders, to all the privileges and immunities of their several unions; and especially to receive any agency, mission, or other appointment, which may run within the scope of their operation or duties.[7] Rev. Basil Manly, Sr., then president of the University of Alabama (1838–1855), drafted the resolutions. A strong supporter of the institution of slavery, Manly owned a plantation and 40 slaves. He argued for the humanity of slaves, but thought the institution was part of the proper scheme of man's social structures, and that the Baptist religion could help support proper treatment of slaves.[8] In 1844 the ABSC sent its resolutions to the Board of the Triennial Convention.[9][10] Following the Home Mission Society's rejection of James E. Reeve for appointment as a missionary because he was a slaveholder, Alabama and other southern state Baptist conventions withdrew their funding from the national convention and formed the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. It was another sign of the severe sectional tensions that developed in the nation before the outbreak of war. In 1871, the ABSC established a Sabbath-school Board. In 1875 this became the State Mission Board, originally located in Talladega. In 1880, it relocated to Selma in 1880.[1] In the postwar years, women became increasingly active, in 1879 creating the women's central missions' committee, the predecessor of the Women's Missionary Union (WMU).[6] In 1886, E. B. Teague introduced a resolution at the state convention to move Howard College to Birmingham.[11] In 1887, the Convention relocated Howard College from Marion to Birmingham,[5][12] which was industrializing and growing rapidly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Baptist_Convention