The '''Southern Baptist Convention''' or '''SBC''' is a the largest organization of [[ChristianBaptists]] organization with . It has over 16 million members in 42,000 churches across America, with greatest strength in the South<ref> There are four other national groups, American Baptist Churches (strongest in the North), National Baptist Convention (African Americans, strong in the South and northern cities), the
Conservative Baptist Association, and the Progressive
National Baptist Convention (a more liberal body of African Americans, strong in the South and northern cities).</ref>. It also sponsors 10,000 missionaries in 157 countries. It holds 41 state conventions and one national convention annually, and in recent years it tends to identify with [[Conservative Christianity|conservative Christian]] values and supports Biblical [[inerrancy]]. Insistence on baptism by immersion, as it is presented in the Bible, fulfills the twin symbolism of washing from sin and of death and rebirth, as well as pointing to the Baptists' conviction that Scripture is the complete and sufficient basis of the Christian faith.
Beginning in the late 1960s, fundamentalists under the leadership of layman Paul Pressler and minister Paige Patterson claimed that the denomination's institutions had come under the influence of liberalism and that a redirection was necessary. Starting in 1979 they mobilized delegates to attend the annual convention and to elect conservative candidates. Usually winning by ratios of about 55%-45% they elected a series of militantly conservative presidents. In turn the presidents appointed militantly conservative committees and trustees, and systematically transformed the SBC's six seminaries, its publishing house, its mission boards, and its numerous agencies. Theologically the issue has focused on the inerrancy of Scripture. Some Baptist colleges and universities resisted the trend and broke their ties with the SBC. The moderates protested that the fundamentalists had downplayed the historic emphasis on evangelism to impose a particular reading of Scripture, thereby breaking with the denomination's historic unwillingness to impose creeds.
A revised collection of common principles held by Baptists was set forth by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000.<ref>see [http://www.sbc.net/bfm/ text]</ref>
In 2004, conservatives at the SBC introduced a resolution calling on all parents to pull their children out of public schools due to the liberal indoctrination there. The resolution was defeated, not because Baptists disagreed with the motivation, but because the SBC did not want to usurp parental authority over how to educate their children.<ref>see [http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38986 news]</ref>
===Fighting Sin===
Source: Lyman A. Kellstedt et al., "The Soul of the South: Religion and Southern Politics in the Twenty-first Century" in Charles S. Bullock III and Mark J. Rozell, eds. ''The New Politics of the Old South'' (2007) p. 316
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==See also==
* [[Baptists]]
==Bibliography==
* Hill, Samuel, et al. ''Encyclopedia of Religion in the South'' (2005), comprehensive coverage
* Kell, Carl L. and L. Raymond Camp, ''In the Name of the Father: The Rhetoric of the New Southern Baptist Convention.'' (1999) [http://www.questia.com/read/105268786?title=In%20the%20Name%20of%20the%20Father%3a%20%20The%20Rhetoric%20of%20the%20New%20Southern%20Baptist%20Convention online edition]
* Leonard, Bill J. ''Baptist Ways: A History'' (2003), comprehensive international history
* Leonard, Bill J. ''Baptists in America.'' (2005), general survey and history by leading Southern Baptist
* Leonard, Bill J. "Independent Baptists: from Sectarian Minority to 'Moral Majority'". ''Church History''. Volume: 56. Issue: 4. 1987. pp 504+. [http://www.questia.com/read/95146834?title=Independent%20Baptists%3a%20from%20Sectarian%20Minority%20to%20%22Moral%20Majority%22 online edition]
* Leonard, Bill J. ''God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention.'' Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990.
* Lumpkin, William L. ''Baptist History in the South: Tracing through the Separates the Influence of the Great Awakening, 1754–1787'' (1995)
* Glenmary Research Center. ''Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States'' 2000.
* Kell, Carl L., ed. ''Exiled: Voices of the Southern Baptist Convention Holy War.'' (2006) 228pp
* McBeth, H. Leon, (ed.) ''A Sourcebook for Baptist Heritage'' (1990), primary sources for Baptist history.
* McGlothlin, W. J. (ed.) ''Baptist Confessions of Faith.'' Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1911.
* Shurden, Walter B. and Randy Shepley, eds. ''Going for the Jugular: A Documentary History of the SBC Holy War.'' [Mercer U. Press, 1996. 281 pp.
==External Links==
* [http://www.baptisthistory.org/ Baptist History and Heritage Society]* [http://www.abpnews.com/ Associated Baptist Press] - An Independent Baptist news agency* [http://www.bpnews.net/ Baptist Press] - A Southern Baptist news agency
* [http://www.sbc.net/default.asp SBC Website]
====Notes====
[[Category:United States History]]
[[Category:Theologians]]
[[Category:Fundamentalism]]