| The Baptist Church is the third largest Protestant | | | | that anyone could have claim on the Atonement of |
| denomination in the world. It began about the same | | | | Jesus Christ if they followed his example and were |
| time as the major Reformation that occurred in | | | | baptized. The Particular Baptists believed that only a |
| Europe in the 1500's. The first ancestors of the | | | | select group of a few chosen followers would be |
| Baptist Church of today were called Anabaptists. | | | | able to benefit from the Atonement-they were the |
| Ana- means re-and these Christians believed that in | | | | stricter of the two groups. |
| order to be baptized a person needed to be old | | | | Now the Baptist Church has a few main divisions. Part |
| enough to choose baptism into a particular faith. This | | | | of this division stems from the basic belief of Baptists |
| made the Baptist Church highly unpopular even | | | | that each person has the power to believe and |
| among the other Protestant religions of the day and | | | | choose as the feel is right. This means that when an |
| they were persecuted and even killed for their | | | | individual is presented with an idea or doctrine they |
| beliefs. | | | | can choose to follow it or not. Thus, it follows that |
| In 1637, Roger Williams established the first Baptist | | | | each Baptist Church congregation can also choose |
| Church in the United States in Rhode Island. Then, | | | | what they will preach and teach there. There is no |
| during the religious "Awakening" which occurred in the | | | | Baptist hierarchy like you would find in both the |
| following 200 years or so, the Church really began to | | | | Catholic Church and other Protestant religions as well. |
| gain a following and people felt free to join. People | | | | There are 5 basic divisions in the Baptist faith today: |
| were feeling more independent about their religious | | | | The Southern Baptist Conference is based in the |
| freedoms and did not necessarily feel that they | | | | southern U.S. and began when the South wanted to |
| should belong to the church they were born into. | | | | justify human slavery as a way of life. |
| Early on, when the Baptist Church first began, there | | | | The American Baptist Convention is a much smaller |
| were two divisions in it. The General Baptists believed | | | | more liberal group of Baptists. |