Baptist and Catholics: History

I have composed a Project comparing Baptists and Catholics. These two faiths share common Christian Beliefs and values, though they differ in Key areas. Please Enjoy. Lets start with a history of the two.

Roger Williams founded the first Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Isalnd 1638. Williams was a protestant from England, and was a proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. He argued that when church and state mix, it essentially becomes forced worship. By the nature of protestant movements, there were many Baptist churches that were operating independently, going in different directions. Also by the nature of the Baptist movement, there was not a central governing body, because, unlike Catholics, they do not follow papal authority. One of the earliest of the large Baptist conventions was the Triennial Convention formed in 1814. 1845, Baptists from the south withdrew because the convention banned slave owners from becoming ordained missionaries and formed the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Northern Baptist convention was founded at Washington D.C. 1907. It was meant to bring a consistency among the separate Baptist groups all over the United States. The American Baptist Convention (as it was called from 1950-1972) was progressive for its time. involved in civil rights, progressive in its views of race relations. However they didn’t really give black members very much power, as was protested by black members in 1968. They were not allowed in decision making positions. Although their first black president of the convention was elected the next year.

Jesus handing to keys to heaven over to Saint Peter

The Catholic Church is the largest Christian group in the world with over 1.15 billion members. The Pope is the main authority. The Catholic traditions holds that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ during the 1^st century AD. The earliest members being the twelve disciples that Jesus had sent out to proclaim his teachings. There were a plethora of Christians at the time of the Roman empire who refused to join the pagan, rituals–and thus most public events. They were often harassed and persecuted. But a dramatic turn in Roman history occurred when Christianity was legalized in the 4^th century AD and in 380 Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church still survived and spread all throughout Europe.

Throughout history they have been several schism as the church changed and society changed. The 11^th century schism between the West (Latin) and East (Greek) churches in Europe and the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century are the two major schisms in history. Baptists originate from the soon after the protestant reformation when the separatists (from the Church of England) were migrating to North America claiming that the church was corrupt and misleading. Roger Williams is one of these separatists, who founded Baptists.