A Southern Baptist minister architecturally founded a denomination over slavery

Evidence

Southern white Christians, particularly Baptists, played a critical role in justifying a particularly southern way of life, including what they sometimes referred to as the “peculiar institution” of slavery. Central to this story, but not widely known, are the efforts of the Reverend Dr. Basil Manly Sr. Born into a wealthy North Carolina plantation family in 1798, Manly followed his mother into the burgeoning Baptist movement in the South over the protestations of his Catholic father. Leveraging his influence as the senior pastor of prominent churches in South Carolina and Alabama, Manly became a pivotal leader in both religious and political secessionist movements. He was the chief architect of the withdrawal of Baptists in the South from cooperative fellowship with their northern brethren over the issue of slavery that established the Southern Baptist Convention; and he was instrumental in building a southern alternative to ministerial educational institutions in the North, which he perceived to be increasingly under the influence of abolitionists. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 104

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Jones’s broader White Too Long thesis about the SBC’s founding on white supremacy. — connects to: The Southern Baptist Convention was founded specifically to defend slaveholding Christianity. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 17; Baptist clergy helped draft the Confederacy’s religious constitution. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 109; Slavery, not theology, caused the 1845 Baptist schism. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 18 (+2 more)
• ADDENDUM: Supports the ‘sacrifice/sanctifying institutions’ throughline as a concrete denominational-infrastructure case.

Broader Connections

• The Southern Baptist Convention was founded specifically to defend slaveholding Christianity. #expands (0.90) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 17
• Slavery, not theology, caused the 1845 Baptist schism. #qualifies (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 18
• Baptist clergy helped draft the Confederacy’s religious constitution. #expands (0.75) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 109