ABOUT THE EPISODE

A historical exploration showing that Baptists long affirmed religious liberty without requiring a separation of church and state, tracing the shift in the 20th century.

Resources to Click

• “Liberty, Not Separation: The Historic Development of Baptist Perspectives on Church and State” – Marc Minter
• “Views of Individuals in Southern Baptist Congregations on Baptist Political Theology” – Lifeway Research
• “The Impotence of Secular Conservatism” – R. Albert Mohler Jr.
• Comparison Chart of the Baptist Faith and Message
• Theme of the Month: Do the Reading: Selections in Political Theology
• Give to Support the Work

Books to Read

• Ecclesiology: A Study of the Churches – Edwin Charles Dargan
• Baptist Political Theology – eds. Thomas Kidd, Paul Miller, & Andrew T. Walker
• Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State – Daniel Dreisbach
• Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience – Nathan S. Chapman and Michael W. McConnell
• Separation of Church and State – Philip Hamburger
• More Than Just a Name: Preserving Our Baptist Identity – Stan Norman
• The Axioms of Religion: A New Interpretation of the Baptist Faith – E.Y. Mullins
• The Baptist Story: From English Sect to Global Movement – Anthony L. Chute, Nathan A. Finn, & Michael A.G. Haykin
• Demanding Liberty: An Untold Story of American Religious Liberty – Brandon J. O’Brien
• Let Men Be Free: Baptist Politics in the Early United States (1776-1835) – Obbie Tyler Todd
• Baptist Confessions, Covenants, and Catechisms – John A. Broadus, ed. Timothy George
• Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study – James Leo Garrett
• Baptist Confessions of Faith – William L. Lumpkin
• Christianity & Liberalism – J. Gresham Machen
• Uneasy in Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives and American Culture – Barry Hankins