Christianity: Baptist Tradition FOUNDED: 1609 C.E. RELIGION AS A PERCENTAGE OF WORLD POPULATION: 1.8 percent Overview Baptists, who effectively were founded in 1609 by John Smyth, an English dissenting pastor, have become one of the world's...

Baptist is a term describing individuals belonging to a Baptist church or a Baptist denomination. The name comes from the conviction that followers of Jesus Christ are commanded to be immersed in water as a public display of their faith, and thus most...

Baptists in America. By Bill J. Leonard. Columbia Contemporary American Religion Series. (New York: Columbia University Press, c. 2005. Pp. xii, 316. $45.00, ISBN 0-231-12702-2.) Touch someone's religion and you touch their all. Adding to the dangers inherent in handling religion is the...

It is appropriate, as they approach the four-hundredth anniversary of the founding of their denomination, for Baptists to review their theological legacy. In this article, our review will be of three-quarters of that history. But is there anything to review? In an...

The Rev. Jerry Sutton, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor who lost a bid to become president of the denomination, is now facing an upheaval in the megachurch he leads, including complaints that he spent church money on his daughter's wedding.For nearly 21 years, Sutton has...

A Southern Baptist leader said Tuesday that evangelical voters might tolerate a divorced presidential candidate, but they have deep doubts about GOP hopeful Rudy Giuliani, who has been married three times.Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, told The Associated Press...