Alabama Baptist Convention Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==History== ===Early years=== The Alabama State Convention was formed in 1823 at the Salem Church just outside [[Greensboro, Alabama]],<ref name=Cathcart1881 /><ref name=Flynt1998 /> 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 (pastor)|Charles Crow]], [[A. G. McCrow]], and [[Joseph Ryan (pastor)|Joseph Ryan]].<ref name=Cathcart1881 /> [[File:Samford University Beeson Divinity School.JPG|thumb|225px|right|Beeson Divinity School at [[Samford University]], formerly known as Howard College]] 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 language|Burmese]], to support the Baptist [[mission (station)|mission]] in Burma. At the ABSC's tenth annual session, in 1833, which was held at Grant's Creek Church in [[Tuscaloosa County, Alabama|Tuscaloosa County]], the convention resolved to found an educational institution, to be called the Manual Labor Seminary. But, this project foundered after five years.<ref name=Cathcart1881 /> In Alabama, local Baptists founded [[Judson College (Alabama)|Judson College]] for women in 1838; and [[Samford University|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.<ref name=Flynt2008 /> ===Slavery issue=== In the years of increasing sectional tensions about the Baptist Church's position on [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] and [[Abolitionism in the United States|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: <blockquote>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.<ref name=Baker1906 /></blockquote> Rev. [[Basil Manly, Sr.]], then president of the [[University of Alabama]] (1838β1855), drafted the resolutions. A strong supporter of the institution of slavery, Manly owned a [[plantations in the American South|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.<ref name=Fuller2007 /> In 1844 the ABSC sent its resolutions to the Board of the [[Triennial Convention]].<ref name=Newman2007 /><ref name=Geiger2006 /> Following the [[American Baptist Home Mission Society|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. ===Post-Civil War=== In 1871, the ABSC established a Sabbath-school Board. In 1875 this became the State Mission Board, originally located in [[Talladega, Alabama|Talladega]]. In 1880, it relocated to [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]] in 1880.<ref name=Cathcart1881 /> 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).<ref name=Flynt2008 /> In 1886, [[E. B. Teague]] introduced a resolution at the state convention to move Howard College to [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Howard College|url=https://archive.org/details/sixtyninthannual1911howa|title=Sixty-Ninth Annual Catalogue and Register of Howard College 1910 - 1911|date=1911|publisher=Howard College|others=Samford University Library}}</ref> In 1887, the Convention relocated Howard College from [[Marion, Alabama|Marion]] to Birmingham,<ref name=Flynt1998 /><ref name=Hankins2002 /> which was industrializing and growing rapidly. While historically women constituted the majority of members of the Baptist Church and played many active roles in providing charity and supporting education, they were not ordained as ministers or allowed to hold offices in the church, associations and conventions. Gradually they took on more formal leadership roles. The ASBC did admit women delegates in 1913, years before they received the right to vote through the national amendment to the constitution.<ref name=Flynt1998 /><ref name=Hill1983 /> In 1972 the convention elected its first woman vice-president, [[Miriam Jackson]], then dean of women at [[Jacksonville State University]] and recording secretary for the Alabama Baptist Executive Board.<ref name=Flynt1998 /><ref name=TuscaloosaNews1 /> The church accepted and supported separate churches for African Americans. The St. Louis Street Missionary Baptist Church in Mobile was established in 1853, and the first three pastors were white, but in 1865 the title was transferred to the first African-American pastor, Rev. Charles Leavens. In 1874, the ABC passed a resolution at this church to establish an educational institute for blacks called [[Selma University]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flotte2.com/Alabama/Docs/AAHT.pdf |title=African-American Heritage Trail Downtown Historic Locations |work=Flotte |accessdate=2010-08-25 }}{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> ===Civil rights movement=== The [[civil rights movement]] of the 1950s and 1960s forced changes in the position of the organization on segregation. In 1956 the Christian Life Commission of the ABC described the first black student of the [[University of Alabama]] as a "seeming tool of the [[NAACP]]" and said it could not view the policy of forced integration as "the will of God for our state in 1956". The ABC commission called for "more independent" black ministers to help defuse racial tensions, but had difficulty finding ministers who were not associated with the NAACP, at least in sympathy.<ref>{{cite book |page=102 |title=Southern civil religions in conflict: civil rights and the culture wars |author=Andrew Michael Manis |publisher=Mercer University Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-86554-785-8}}</ref> In 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to adopt a resolution renouncing its [[racist]] roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=899 |title=SBC Resolution: RESOLUTION ON RACIAL RECONCILIATION ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION |access-date=April 18, 2011 |archive-date=April 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110428203113/http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=899 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>''This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian Faith.'' Ed. Robert J. Priest and Alvaro L. Nieves. Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 275 and 339</ref> ABC churches and denominational leadership were supportive of this apology. In 1999 Dr. Thomas E. Corts, president of [[Samford University]] said "The Alabama Baptist Convention ... are on record as saying that we need to grant opportunities to all races, and we don't want to compromise that opportunity. We're all God's children."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/books/it/1999/05/14/baptist |date=May 14, 1999 |title=All God's children |author=JON BOWEN }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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