List of Baptists
Encyclopedia
The following list of Baptists is a catalogue of those who were members of Baptist churches or who were raised in Baptist churches. It is not intended to imply that all those who appear on the list were practicing Baptists or that they remained Baptists their entire lives. As an article of faith, Baptists do not baptize infants, believing instead in believer's baptism after conversion.

Preachers, theologians, and missionaries

  • Abernathy, Ralph
    Ralph Abernathy
    Ralph David Abernathy, Sr. was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, a minister, and a close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Following King's assassination, Dr. Abernathy took up the leadership of the SCLC Poor People's Campaign and...

    , pastor and civil rights
    Civil rights
    Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

     activist
  • Armstrong, Annie
    Annie Armstrong
    Annie Armstrong was a lay Southern Baptist denominational leader instrumental in the founding of the Woman's Missionary Union.-Early life:...

    , missionary organizer, the SBC's
    Southern Baptist Convention
    The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...

     Easter
    Easter
    Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

     mission offering is collected in her honor.
  • Birch, John
    John Birch (missionary)
    John Morrison Birch was an American military intelligence officer and a Baptist missionary in World War II who was shot by armed supporters of the Communist Party of China. Some politically conservative groups in the United States consider him to be a martyr and the first victim of the Cold War...

    , Missionary to China and ardent anti-communist
    Anti-communism
    Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...

  • Burchell, Thomas
    Thomas Burchell
    Thomas Burchell was a leading Baptist missionary and slavery abolitionist in Jamaica in the early nineteenth century. It is not uncommon for Jamaican parents to name their children 'Burchell'; indeed it is almost as popular a Christian name as Manley.Burchell, along with James Phillippo , William...

    , missionary to Jamaica
    Jamaica
    Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

  • Campolo, Tony
    Tony Campolo
    Dr. Anthony "Tony" Campolo is an American pastor, author, sociologist, and public speaker known for challenging evangelical Christians by illustrating how their faith can offer solutions in a world of complexity. With his liberal political and social attitudes, he has been a major proponent for...

    , pastor and professor of sociology
  • Carey, William, missionary to India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

  • Carroll, B(enajah) H(arvey)
    Benajah Harvey Carroll
    Benajah Harvey Carroll, known as B.H. Carroll , was a Baptist pastor, theologian, teacher, and author.-Biography:...

    , pastor, theologian, founding president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
    Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
    Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is a private, non-profit institution of higher education, associated with the Southern Baptist Convention...

  • Carroll, JM
    James Milton Carroll
    James Milton Carroll was an American Baptist pastor, leader, historian, author, and educator.- Early life and education :...

    , pastor author of The Trail of Blood
    The Trail of Blood
    The Trail of Blood is a booklet by the Baptist minister, Dr. James Milton Carroll. It is a collection of five lectures he gave on the history of Baptist churches, which he presented as a succession from the first Christians....

  • Charles Henry Carter
    Charles Henry Carter
    Charles Henry Carter was a Baptist missionary to Ceylon. Son of Thomas Carter, a stonemason, and his wife Anne , Charles Carter was raised near Leicester, UK. While working as a miller for an uncle, Carter was converted to Christianity. He was baptised at Arnesby by the Rev M. Davis...

    , English missionary to Ceylon and translator of the Old Testament, Book of Psalms,and New Testament into Sinhalese from Hebrew and Greek. Considered to be the foremost sinhalese scholar of his time, his A Sinhalese-English Dictionary (Reprint, New Delhi 1996. ISBN 81-206-1174-8) is still considered an authority on the language today.
  • Chambers, Oswald
    Oswald Chambers
    Oswald J. Chambers was a prominent early twentieth century Scottish Protestant Christian minister and teacher, best known as the author of the widely-read devotional My Utmost for His Highest.Born to devout Baptist parents, Chambers did not plan to go into the ministry...

    , British pastor author of My Utmost for His Highest
    My Utmost for His Highest
    Written by Oswald Chambers , My Utmost for His Highest is a compilation of Chambers' Christian preaching to students and soldiers. Published in England in 1927, and in the USA in 1935, the book has become one of the most popular religious books ever written...

    , born the son of a Baptist pastor, converted to Christianity under C. H. Spurgeon (below)
  • Cheney, Oren
    Oren B. Cheney
    Oren Burbank Cheney was the founder of Bates College, an abolitionist, and a Free Will Baptist clergyman.-Early life:...

    , American abolitionist and founder of Bates College
    Bates College
    Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...

  • Christian, John T.
    John T. Christian
    John Tyler Christian was a Baptist preacher, author and educator. He was born December 14, 1854, near Lexington, Kentucky. His family moved to Henry County, Kentucky, when he was six years old...

    , church historian
  • Clarke, Dr. John
    John Clarke (1609-1676)
    John Clarke was a medical doctor, Baptist minister, co-founder of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious freedom in the Americas....

    , medical doctor, early proponent of separation of church and state
    Separation of church and state
    The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....

  • Craig, Elijah
    Elijah Craig
    Rev. Elijah Craig was a Baptist preacher in Virginia, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the state of Kentucky...

    , preacher, educator and entrepreneur, purported inventor of bourbon whiskey
    Bourbon whiskey
    Bourbon is a type of American whiskey – a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky . It has been produced since the 18th century...

  • Criswell, W.A.
    W. A. Criswell
    Wallie Amos Criswell, Ph.D. , was an American pastor, author, and a two-term elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1968 to 1970...

    , pastor, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention
    Southern Baptist Convention
    The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...

    , founder of Criswell College
    Criswell College
    Criswell College is a Dispensationalist Christian college and divinity school in Dallas, Texas. It is known for training students to teach and preach the Bible with emphasis on evangelism, the original languages, and Biblical inerrancy.-History:...

  • De La Torre, Miguel A.
    Miguel A. De La Torre
    Miguel A. De La Torre is a professor of Social Ethics and Latino/a Studies at Iliff School of Theology, a religious scholar, author, and an ordained minister.-Biography:...

    , prolific author on Hispanic religiosity.
  • Falwell, Jerry
    Jerry Falwell
    Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...

    , televangelist
    Televangelism
    Televangelism is the use of television to communicate the Christian faith. The word is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and was coined by Time magazine. A “televangelist” is a Christian minister who devotes a large portion of his ministry to television broadcasting...

    , founder of the Moral Majority
    Moral Majority
    The Moral Majority was a political organization of the United States which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying...

  • Gill, John
    John Gill (theologian)
    John Gill was an English Baptist pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian who held to a firm Calvinistic soteriology. Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, he attended Kettering Grammar School where he mastered the Latin classics and learned Greek by age 11...

    , pastor and theologian
  • Graham, Billy
    Billy Graham
    William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...

  • Ham, Mordecai
    Mordecai Ham
    Mordecai Fowler Ham, Jr. , was an American Independent Baptist evangelist and temperance movement leader. He entered the ministry in 1901 and in 1936 began a radio broadcast reaching into seven southern states...

    , tent revival
    Tent revival
    A tent revival is a gathering of Christian worshipers in a tent erected specifically for revival meetings, healing crusades, and church rallies. Tent revivals have had both local and national ministries....

    ist who preached the sermon where Billy Graham
    Billy Graham
    William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...

     was converted to Christianity
  • Johnny Hunt
    Johnny Hunt
    Johnny M. Hunt is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, and former President of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is currently the senior pastor of First Baptist Church Woodstock, in Woodstock, Georgia.- Early life :...

    , author and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention
    Southern Baptist Convention
    The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...

    .
  • Hyles, Jack
    Jack Hyles
    Jack Frasure Hyles was a leading figure in the Independent Baptist movement, having pastored the First Baptist Church of Hammond in Hammond, Indiana, from 1959 until his death. He was also well-known for being an innovator of the church bus ministry that brought thousands of people each week from...

    , controversial pastor and leader of the Independent Baptist
    Independent Baptist
    Independent Baptist churches are Christian churches generally holding to conservative Baptist beliefs. They are characterized by being independent from the authority of denominations or similar bodies. Members of such churches comprised three percent of the United States adult population according...

     movement
  • Jordan, Clarence
    Clarence Jordan
    Clarence Jordan , a farmer and New Testament Greek scholar, was the founder of Koinonia Farm, a small but influential religious community in southwest Georgia and the author of the Cotton Patch translations of the New Testament. He was also instrumental in the founding of Habitat for Humanity...

    , pastor and author of the The Cotton Patch Gospel
  • King, Dr. Martin Luther (Jr.)
    Martin Luther King, Jr.
    Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...

    , Civil rights leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient
  • Latourette, Kenneth Scott
    Kenneth Scott Latourette
    Kenneth Scott Latourette was an American historian of China, Japan, and world Christianity. His formative experiences as Christian missionary and educator in early 20th century China shaped his life's work...

    , pastor; missionary and church historian
  • Loretta Lynn
    Loretta Lynn
    Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

    , world-wide famous female Country Music artist.
  • MacArthur, John (Jr.)
    John F. MacArthur
    John Fullerton MacArthur, Jr. is a United States evangelical writer and minister noted for his internationally known and broadcast radio program titled Grace to You...

    , pastor and theologian

  • Moon, Charlotte ("Lottie") Diggers
    Lottie Moon
    Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon was a Southern Baptist missionary to China with the Foreign Mission Board who spent nearly forty years living and working in China...

    , missionary to China. the SBC's
    Southern Baptist Convention
    The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...

     Christmas missionary offering is named in her honor.
  • J. Frank Norris
    J. Frank Norris
    John Franklyn Norris was a flamboyant Baptist preacher, one of the most controversial figures in the history of fundamentalism.-Biography:...

    , flamboyant Baptist preacher, one of the most controversial figures in the history of American fundamentalism.
  • Phelps, Fred
    Fred Phelps
    Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. is an American pastor heading the Westboro Baptist Church , an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas...

    , controversial minister most noted for protesting the funerals of homosexuals, and servicemen
    Soldier
    A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...

  • John Piper (theologian)
    John Piper (theologian)
    John Stephen Piper is a Christian preacher and author, currently serving as Pastor for Preaching and Vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota...

    , pastor and preacher at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, also head of Desiring God.
  • Harold Philmon Reeves (1923–2009), a Shreveport
    Shreveport, Louisiana
    Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

    , Louisiana
    Louisiana
    Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

     native, and his wife, the former Rose Lengefeld, were the first Southern Baptist missionaries
    Missionary
    A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

     to Thailand
    Thailand
    Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

    , where in the 1950s
    1950s
    The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

     they established two churches and an English
    English language
    English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

     ministry in Bangkok. Reeves served as the Asia
    Asia
    Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

    n representative for the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission.
  • Rogers, Adrian
    Adrian Rogers
    Adrian Pierce Rogers served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention , a Southern Baptist pastor, and a conservative author....

    , televangelical
    Televangelism
    Televangelism is the use of television to communicate the Christian faith. The word is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and was coined by Time magazine. A “televangelist” is a Christian minister who devotes a large portion of his ministry to television broadcasting...

  • Spurgeon, C. H.
    Charles Spurgeon
    Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a large British Particular Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as the "Prince of Preachers"...

    , British pastor, known as "The Prince of Preachers"
  • Smyth, John, pastor who founded the first English-speaking
    English language
    English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

     Baptist church
  • Stanley, Charles, televangelist
    Televangelism
    Televangelism is the use of television to communicate the Christian faith. The word is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and was coined by Time magazine. A “televangelist” is a Christian minister who devotes a large portion of his ministry to television broadcasting...

     founder of In Touch Ministries
    In Touch Ministries
    In Touch Ministries is a Christian Evangelical non-profit ministry founded by Charles Stanley, the former head of the Southern Baptist Convention...

  • Williams, Roger
    Roger Williams (theologian)
    Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...

    , founded the First Baptist Church in America
    First Baptist Church in America
    The First Baptist Church in America is the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, also known as First Baptist Meetinghouse. The oldest Baptist church congregation in the United States, it was founded by Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island in 1638...

  • Neiliezhü Üsou
    Neiliezhü Üsou
    Rev. Dr. Neiliezhü Üsou was an influential Baptist preacher, theologian, Church musician, Music teacher and composer from the North-Eastern state of India, Nagaland. He belonged to the Angami Naga tribe and hailed from Nerhema Village in Kohima district, Nagaland, India...

     (1941-2009), an influential Baptist preacher, theologian, Church musician, Music teacher and composer from the North-Eastern state of India
    North-East India
    Northeast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...

    , Nagaland
    Nagaland
    Nagaland is a state in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur...

    .

Politicians

  • Carter, Jimmy
    Jimmy Carter
    James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

     , Nobel Peace Prize recipient; 39th President of the United States
  • Clinton, Bill
    William Clinton
    Bill Clinton is the 42nd President of the United States. William Clinton may also refer to:*William de Clinton, 1st Earl of Huntingdon , English nobleman from prominent Norman family dating to William the Conqueror; Lord High Admiral as of 1333*William Henry Clinton , British general from...

    , 42nd President of the United States
  • Colson, Chuck, former top aide to President Richard Nixon
    Richard Nixon
    Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

  • Gore, Al
    Al Gore
    Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

    , Vice-President of the United States from 1993 – 2001; 2000 Democratic presidential candidate, Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
  • Harding, Warren G.
    Warren G. Harding
    Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...

    , 29th President of the United States
  • Yukio Hatoyama
    Yukio Hatoyama
    is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan between 16 September 2009 and 2 June 2010, and was the first ever Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan....

    , 60th Prime Minister of Japan
    Prime Minister of Japan
    The is the head of government of Japan. He is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office...

    .
  • Huckabee, Mike
    Mike Huckabee
    Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...

    , (R) former governor of Arkansas and 2008 Presidential candidate
  • Jackson, Jesse Louis
    Jesse Jackson
    Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...

    ,American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997.
  • Johnson, Andrew
    Andrew Johnson
    Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...

    , 17th President of the United States
  • Johnson, Richard M.
    Richard Mentor Johnson
    Richard Mentor Johnson was the ninth Vice President of the United States, serving in the administration of Martin Van Buren . He was the only vice-president ever elected by the United States Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment. Johnson also represented Kentucky in the U.S...

    , United States Vice President
    Vice president
    A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...

     under Martin Van Buren
    Martin Van Buren
    Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....

     (1837–41)
  • Claude Kirkpatrick
    Claude Kirkpatrick
    Claude Kirkpatrick was a diversified businessman who served two terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives , worked to establish Toledo Bend Reservoir through his directorship of the state Department of Public Works , and was the administrator and then president of Baton Rouge General Medical...

    , former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
    Louisiana State Legislature
    The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...

     and director of his state's department of public works
    Public works
    Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...

    ; involved in various Baptist activities within Louisiana and through the Southern Baptist Convention
  • Lincoln, Abraham
    Abraham Lincoln
    Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

    , 16th President of the United States. Lincoln was raised in the Regular Baptist
    Regular Baptist
    Regular Baptists are a diverse group of Baptists in the United States and Canada. The presence of the modifier "Regular" in their names attests to the strong influence of the early Regular Baptists on the growth of Baptists in North America. Two strains of Baptists emigrated from England to America...

     church, but did not practice any organized religion as an adult.
  • McCain, John
    John McCain
    John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

    , United States Senator (R) Arizona
    Arizona
    Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

    , Presidential candidate
  • Paul, Ron
    Ron Paul
    Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...

    , United States Congressman (R) and former Libertarian Party
    Libertarian Party (United States)
    The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...

     Presidential candidate, who is known for his libertarian leanings.
  • Rockefeller, Nelson
    Nelson Rockefeller
    Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...

    , U.S. Vice-President under Gerald Ford
    Gerald Ford
    Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

     (1974–77)
  • Truman, Harry, 33rd President of the United States

Jurists

  • Black, Hugo
    Hugo Black
    Hugo Lafayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to the Supreme...

    , Supreme Court associate justice
    Associate Justice
    Associate Justice or Associate Judge is the title for a member of a judicial panel who is not the Chief Justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the United States Supreme Court and some state supreme courts, and for some other courts in Commonwealth...

  • Hughes, Charles
    Charles Evans Hughes
    Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...

     Supreme Court, chief justice
    Chief Justice
    The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

  • Jackson, Howel Supreme Court, associate justice
  • Moore, Roy
    Roy Moore
    Roy Stewart Moore is an American jurist and Republican politician noted for his refusal, as the elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse despite orders to do so from a federal judge...

     Alabama
    Alabama
    Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

     state Supreme Court chief justice, removed from office
  • Thomas, Clarence
    Clarence Thomas
    Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....

     Supreme Court, associate justice (raised Baptist, converted to Catholicism)

Industrialists and leaders of business

  • Cathy, S. Truett
    S. Truett Cathy
    Samuel Truett Cathy is the founder of Chick-fil-A, a quick service restaurant chain based in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, USA.-Early life:...

    , billionaire
    Billionaire
    A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the...

     founder of Chick-fil-A
    Chick-fil-A
    Chick-fil-A |"fillet"]]) is a quick service restaurant chain headquartered in College Park, Georgia, United States, specializing in chicken entrées and is known for promoting the company founder's claims of Christian values. Long associated with the southern United States, where it has been a...

     restaurants
  • Lindner, Carl, former owner of the Cincinnati Reds
    Cincinnati Reds
    The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

  • Penney, J(ames) C(ash)
    J. C. Penney
    -External links:*...

    , department store magnet, son of a Primitive Baptist
    Primitive Baptist
    Primitive Baptists, also known as Hard Shell Baptists or Anti-Mission Baptists, are conservative, Calvinist Baptists adhering to beliefs that formed out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 1800’s over the appropriateness of mission boards, bible tract societies, and temperance...

     lay minister
  • Rockefeller, John D
    John D. Rockefeller
    John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...

    , twentieth century oil tycoon

Entertainers, movie and television personalities

  • Aiken, Clay
    Clay Aiken
    Clayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and author who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man was released...

    , country music
    Country music
    Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

     singer
  • Adkins, David ("Sinbad"), actor, comedian
  • Beatty, Warren
    Warren Beatty
    Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...

    , actor
  • Campbell, Glen
    Glen Campbell
    Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

    , country music singer
  • Carter, Aaron
    Aaron Carter
    Aaron Charles Carter is an American singer. He came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the early-first decade of the 21st century....

    , singer
  • Carter, Nick
    Nick Carter (musician)
    Nickolas Gene "Nick" Carter is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, musician, entertainer and actor. He is best known as a member of the pop group, Backstreet Boys. He went on to release a solo album called Now Or Never during their hiatus. He has made occasional television appearances and...

    , lead vocalists of the pop group Backstreet Boys
    Backstreet Boys
    The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...

  • Cash, Johnny
    Johnny Cash
    John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

    , country music singer
  • Costner, Kevin
    Kevin Costner
    Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...

    , actor
  • Clower, Jerry
    Jerry Clower
    Howard Gerald "Jerry" Clower was a popular country comedian best known for his stories of the rural South. He was often nicknamed "The Mouth of the South", although this title has also been used for other individuals.Clower began a 2-year stint in the Navy immediately after graduating high school...

     rural humorist, member of the Grand Ole Opry
    Grand Ole Opry
    The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

    , lay minister
  • Cyrus, Miley
    Miley Cyrus
    Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana....

    , actress
  • Davis, Bette
    Bette Davis
    Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

    , actress and former Baptist
  • Foxx, Jamie
    Jamie Foxx
    Eric Marlon Bishop , professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a...

    , actor, singer and stand-up comedian
  • Franklin, Aretha
    Aretha Franklin
    Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

    , Singer and daughter of Baptist minister Rev. C.L. Franklin
  • Gardner, Ava
    Ava Gardner
    Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...

    , actress
  • Holly, Buddy
    Buddy Holly
    Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...

    , rock 'n' roll singer
  • Houston, Whitney
    Whitney Houston
    Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

    , R&B/pop singer and actress
  • Jackson, Mahalia
    Mahalia Jackson
    Mahalia Jackson – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel"...

    , gospel
    Gospel music
    Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

     singer
  • Knight, Gladys
    Gladys Knight
    Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...

    , singer, converted to Mormonism
  • Littrell, Brian
    Brian Littrell
    Brian Thomas Littrell is an American singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the Backstreet Boys. He is also a contemporary Christian recording artist and released a solo album, Welcome Home, in 2006...

    , pop singer, member of the Backstreet Boys
    Backstreet Boys
    The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...

  • Reba McEntire
    Reba McEntire
    Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

    , world-wide famous female Country Music artist and actress.
  • Murphy, Eddie
    Eddie Murphy
    Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....

    , actor
  • Norris,Chuck
    Chuck Norris
    Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...

    , actor
  • Nutt, Grady
    Grady Nutt
    Grady Lee Nutt was a Southern Baptist minister, humorist, television personality, and author. His humor revolved around rural Southern Protestantism and earned him the title as "The Prime Minister of Humor."...

    , Hee Haw
    Hee Haw
    Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...

     regular (1979–82), Baptist Minister
  • Pitt, Brad
    Brad Pitt
    William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

    , Actor, raised baptist
  • Quaid, Dennis
    Dennis Quaid
    Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

    , Actor
  • Scott, Willard
    Willard Scott
    Willard Herman Scott, Jr. is an American media personality and author best known for his television work on NBC's The Today Show and as the creator of the Ronald McDonald character.-Early years:...

    , television weatherman
  • Shelton, Ron
    Ron Shelton
    Ron Shelton is a U.S. film director and screenwriter, most notable for making movies about sports.Shelton is an alumnus of Santa Barbara High School and of the University of Arizona and Westmont College...

    , director
  • Simpson, Ashlee
    Ashlee Simpson
    Ashlee Nicole Simpson is an American singer and actress. In 2004, she rose to prominence with the success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and the reality series, The Ashlee Simpson Show. In October 2005, following a North American concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson released...

     Pop Singer
  • Simpson, Jessica
    Jessica Simpson
    Jessica Ann Simpson is an American recording artist, actress, television personality, and fashion designer whose rise to fame began in 1999. Since that time, Simpson has achieved many recording milestones, starred in several television shows, movies, and commercials, launched a line of hair and...

     Pop singer and actress
  • Spears, Britney
    Britney Spears
    Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

    , pop singer
  • Timberlake, Justin
    Justin Timberlake
    Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...

    , pop singer
  • Turner, Tina
    Tina Turner
    Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

    , singer, converted to Buddhism
    Buddhism
    Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

  • Underwood, Carrie
    Carrie Underwood
    Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

    , country music singer
  • Vaughn, Billy
    Billy Vaughn
    Richard "Billy" Vaughn was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records....

    , American Big Band
    Big band
    A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

     Orchestra Leader, Songwriter, and Saxophonist
  • Winfrey, Oprah
    Oprah Winfrey
    Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

    , raised Baptist, now a spiritualist.
  • Whitney, Dan ("Larry the Cable Guy")
    Larry the Cable Guy
    Daniel Lawrence Whitney , better known by his stage name and character Larry the Cable Guy, is an American comedian, actor, and former radio personality....

    , son of a Baptist preacher, attended Baptist University of America
    Baptist University of America
    Baptist University of America is a now defunct college that was located in Decatur, Georgia near Atlanta.It was made up of a merger of five separate seminaries.-History:...

    .

Authors, Writers, and Journalists

  • Gilberto Freyre
    Gilberto Freyre
    Gilberto de Mello Freyre was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter and congressman. His best-known work is a sociological treatise named Casa-Grande & Senzala...

    ,brazilian
    Brazilian
    Brazilian may refer to anything of or relating to Brazil and may also refer directly to:* Brazilian barbecue, known as churrasco* Brazilian football—see Football in Brazil* Brazilian football clubs—see List of football clubs in Brazil...

     sociologist and anthropologist.Was a baptist missionary
    Missionary
    A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

     in Brazil
    Brazil
    Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

     and the USA.Raised Baptist.
  • Bunyan, John
    John Bunyan
    John Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,...

    , author of Pilgrim's Progress
  • Dando, Jill
    Jill Dando
    Jill Wendy Dando was an English journalist, television presenter and newsreader who worked for the BBC for 14 years. She was murdered by gunshot outside her home in Fulham, West London; her killer has never been identified....

    , British reporter and telejournalist
  • Hughes, Robert Don
    Robert Don Hughes
    Dr. Robert Don Hughes , is an American educator and writer, author of both mainstream fantasy and science fiction and evangelical non-fiction.-Education:...

    , Baptist minister, educator and science fiction author
  • Grisham, John
    John Grisham
    John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...

    , bestselling author of The Firm, A Painted House
    A Painted House
    A Painted House is a February 2001 novel by American author John Grisham.Inspired by his childhood in Arkansas, it is Grisham's first major work outside the legal thriller genre in which he established himself...

     and Skipping Christmas
    Skipping Christmas
    Skipping Christmas is a comedy novel by John Grisham. It was published by Doubleday on November 6, 2001 and reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list on December 9....

    .
  • LaHaye, Tim
    Tim LaHaye
    Timothy F. LaHaye is an American evangelical Christian minister, author, and speaker. He is best known for the Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-wrote with Jerry B. Jenkins. He has written over 50 books, both fiction and non-fiction.-Early life:LaHaye was born in Detroit,...

    , co-author of the bestselling Left Behind
    Left Behind
    Left Behind is a series of 16 best-selling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, dealing with Christian dispensationalist End Times: pretribulation, premillennial, Christian eschatological viewpoint of the end of the world. The primary conflict of the series is the members of the Tribulation...

     series
  • Moyers, Bill
    Bill Moyers
    Bill Moyers is an American journalist and public commentator. He served as White House Press Secretary in the United States President Lyndon B. Johnson Administration from 1965 to 1967. He worked as a news commentator on television for ten years. Moyers has had an extensive involvement with public...

    , television journalist and former White House Press Secretary
    White House Press Secretary
    The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....

  • Smith, Hazel Brannon
    Hazel Brannon Smith
    Hazel Freeman Brannon Smith , the owner and editor of four weekly newspapers in rural Mississippi, was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing....

    , journalist and editor; first female recipient of the Pulitzer Prize
    Pulitzer Prize
    The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

     for editorial writing.

Athletes

  • Brown, Jim
    Jim Brown
    James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...

    , former fullback
    Fullback (American football)
    A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...

     for the Cleveland Browns
    Cleveland Browns
    The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

  • Mutombo, Dikembe
    Dikembe Mutombo
    Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo , commonly referred to as Dikembe Mutombo, is a retired Congolese American professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the NBA...

    , center
    Center (basketball)
    The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...

     for the Houston Rockets
    Houston Rockets
    The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...

  • Johnson, Zach
    Zach Johnson
    Zach Johnson is an American golfer, winner of the 2007 Masters Tournament.Zach Johnson may also refer to:* Zack "Jick" Johnson, one of the creators of Kingdom of Loathing* Zachary Johnson, former drummer for The Fray...

    , professional golf
    Golf
    Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

    er, winner of the 2007 Masters Tournament
    2007 Masters Tournament
    The 2007 Masters Tournament was contested from April 5-8 at Augusta National Golf Club. It was the 71st Masters Tournament, and the first major contested in the 2007 season...

  • Langerhans, Ryan
    Ryan Langerhans
    Ryan David Langerhans is an American Major League Baseball outfielder who is currently with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Langerhans was drafted in the third round of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft by the Atlanta Braves...

    , outfielder
    Outfielder
    Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...

     for the Seattle Mariners
    Seattle Mariners
    The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...

  • White, Reggie
    Reggie White
    Reginald Howard "Reggie" White was a professional American football player. He played 15 seasons as a defensive end in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers, becoming one of the most decorated players in NFL history...

    , professional football
    American football
    American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

     defensive end
    Defensive end
    Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...

    ; member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
    Pro Football Hall of Fame
    The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...


Miscellaneous Baptists

  • Birkhead, Larry
    Larry Birkhead
    Larry E. Birkhead was a partner of Anna Nicole Smith and is the father of her daughter, Dannielynn. He was in a child custody battle for his daughter until DNA results proved his paternity.-Personal life:...

    , father of Anna Nicole Smith's
    Anna Nicole Smith
    In 1992 Smith was chosen by Hugh Hefner to appear on the cover of the March issue of Playboy, where she was listed as Vickie Smith, wearing a low-cut evening gown. The centerfold was photographed by Stephen Wayda. Smith said she planned to be "the next Marilyn Monroe". Becoming one of Playboys...

    , daughter Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead
    Dannielynn Birkhead paternity case
    The Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead paternity case, a.k.a Birkhead v. Marshall, centered on a child born September 7, 2006 to Vickie Lynn Marshall...

  • Bluhm, Brian, one of the students killed in the Virginia Tech massacre
    Virginia Tech massacre
    The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...

     and a member of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry
    Baptist Student Union
    The Baptist Student Union is the traditional name of a college-level organization that can be found on many college campuses in the United States and Canada. As the term BSU became associated with other organizations, many local ministries changed their name...

  • Duggar, Jim Bob & Michelle
    Jim Bob Duggar
    James Robert "Jim Bob" Duggar is an American former state legislator, who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002. He also ran in the Republican Party of Arkansas primary election for the United States Senate in 2002, but lost to Tim Hutchinson...

     parents of seventeen children
  • Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick
    Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick
    Edith Aurelia Killgore Kirkpatrick is a retired music educator from Baton Rouge who served on the Louisiana Board of Regents for Higher Education from 1977—1989, the superboard which must approve education budgets presented to the state legislature. She is also a former member of the...

     (born 1918), former member of the executive board of the Louisiana Baptist Convention
    Louisiana Baptist Convention
    The Louisiana Baptist Convention is an association of Baptist churches in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the Convention is composed of approximately 1,595 member congregations representing 869,490 members ....


Criminals

  • Longabaugh, Harry
    Harry Longabaugh
    Harry Alonzo Longabaugh , better known as the Sundance Kid, was an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, in the American Old West. Longabaugh likely met Butch Cassidy after Parker was released from prison around 1896...

     ("The Sundance Kid"), train robber and outlaw
  • Jesse James
    Jesse James
    Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

    ,an American outlaw, son of a Baptist minister

Baptists in literature

  • Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
    Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
    Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a 1987 novel by Fannie Flagg. It was adapted into the film Fried Green Tomatoes, which was released in 1991.-Plot:...

    , by Fannie Flagg
    Fannie Flagg
    Patricia Neal , known professionally as Fannie Flagg, is an American actress, comedienne and author. She is perhaps best-known for the 1988 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was adapted into the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes; Flagg was nominated for an Academy Award for...

    • Idgie Threadgood
    • Rev. Scroggins

  • The Mitford
    At Home in Mitford
    At Home in Mitford is a novel written by American author Jan Karon. It is book one of The Mitford Years series. The first edition was published in hardcover format by Doubleday in 1994...

     series by Jan Karon
    Jan Karon
    Jan Karon is an American writer and novelist, who has written for both children and adults. Karon was born in Lenoir, North Carolina, in 1937, as Janice Meredith Wilson. She retired from a career in advertising and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to write...

    • Sophia Burton, a single mother raising two daughters
    • Absalom Greer, elderly minister and close friend of the series'protagonist, Father Tim Kavanagh (an Episcopalian rector).
    • Madelaine Kavanagh, Father Tim's mother
    • Emma Newland, Father Tim's secretary who was raised Baptist, converted to the Episcopal church, then returned to the Baptist church when she married.
    • Harold Newland, Emma's husband and local postal worker
    • Rodney Underwood, the town's chief of police
    • Lew Boyd, owner-operator of local Exxon
      Exxon
      Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....

       gas station
    • Mule Skinner, semi-retired Realtor
    • Fancy Skinner, Mule's wife and unisex
      Unisex
      Unisex stands for the meaning that either gender or sex will be able to, but can also be another term for gender-blindness.The term was coined in the 1962 and was used fairly informally...

       hairdresser
    • Bill Sprouse, the jovial minister of Mitford's First Baptist Church

  • To Kill a Mockingbird
    To Kill a Mockingbird
    To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...

     by Harper Lee
    Harper Lee
    Nelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...

    • Miss Maudie Atkins, Neighbor of Scout Finch, the protagonist. More moderate than the "Footwashing
      Feet washing
      Foot washing or washing of feet is a religious rite observed as an ordinance by several Christian denominations. The name, and even the spelling, of this practice is not consistently established, being variously known as foot washing, washing the saints' feet, pedilavium, and mandatum.For some...

       Baptists" who make a brief appearance
    • Mr. Radley's father. Another of Scout's neighbors.
  • Superman
    Superman
    Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

     comic book series
    Comic book
    A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

    • Perry White
      Perry White
      Perry White is a fictional character who appears in the Superman comics. White is the Editor-in-Chief of the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet.White maintains very high ethical and journalistic standards...

      , editor of the Daily Planet
      Daily Planet
      The Daily Planet is a fictional broadsheet newspaper in the , appearing mostly in the stories of Superman. The building's original features were based upon the AT&T Huron Road Building in Cleveland, Ohio...


Baptists on television

  • Designing Women
    Designing Women
    Designing Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...

    , Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter
    Dixie Carter
    Dixie Virginia Carter was an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...

    ), presumably Suzanne Sugarbaker (Delta Burke
    Delta Burke
    Delta Ramona Leah Burke is an American television and film actress. Her television work includes a leading role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...

    ) and Charlene Frazier (Jean Smart
    Jean Smart
    Jean E. Smart is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her comedic roles, one of the best known being her role as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women. She later gained critical acclaim for dramatic work, with her portrayal of Martha Logan on 24...

    ). Specifically Charlene reveals that she is a "First Baptist" in the episode "Oh Suzanna". In the episode "How Great Thou Art" Charlene quits her church when she discovers her pastor is opposed to the ordination of women
    Ordination of women
    Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...

    , which was her dream at one time. Mary Jo Shively (Annie Potts
    Annie Potts
    Anne Hampton "Annie" Potts is an American film and television actress. She is known for her roles in the 1980s popular films such as Ghostbusters , Pretty in Pink , Jumpin' Jack Flash , Who's Harry Crumb? and Ghostbusters II . Potts is also known as a voice-actress...

    ) briefly dates Julia's minister.
  • Sanford And Son
    Sanford and Son
    Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....

    , Fred Sanford's (Redd Foxx
    Redd Foxx
    John Elroy Sanford , better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, best known for his starring role on the sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life:...

    ) former sister-in-law, Aunt Esther (LaWanda Page
    LaWanda Page
    LaWanda Page , born Alberta Peal, was an American actress and comedienne best known for her portrayal of Aunt Esther in the 1970s TV sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life and career:...

    ) is a devout baptist who often annoys Fred with her constant bible-thumping.
  • The Jeffersons
    The Jeffersons
    The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The show was produced by the T.A.T. Communications Company from 1975–1982 and by Embassy Television from 1982-1985...

    , George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley
    Sherman Hemsley
    Sherman Alexander Hemsley is an American actor, most famous for his role as George Jefferson on the CBS television series All in the Family and The Jeffersons, and as Deacon Ernest Frye on the NBC series Amen. He also played Earl Sinclair's horrifying boss, a Triceratops named B.P...

    ) is revealed to be a Baptist during the third season in "The Christmas Wedding" episode where his son Lionel (Damon Evans
    Damon Evans
    Damon M. Evans is the former Athletic Director at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.After graduating from Gainesville High School in Hall County, Georgia, Evans played football for UGA, and graduated from the Terry College of Business in 1992 with a Bachelor of Business Administration ...

    ) weds Jenny Willis (Berlinda Thomas). The wedding is held up because George wants a Baptist minister to conduct the service while the Willis' want a minister of their denomination. Jenny and Lionel quickly marry when a minister (Robert Sampson) (who happens to be Baptist, though white to George's chagrin), is going door-to-door with a group of carolers.
  • Gimme a Break!
    Gimme a Break!
    Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC from October 29, 1981, until May 12, 1987. The series stars Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief and his three daughters.-Premise:...

    , Nell Harper (Nell Carter
    Nell Carter
    Nell Carter was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin, as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television...

    ) is the daughter of a Baptist minister.
  • Golden Girls, Blanche Deveraux (Rue McClanahan
    Rue McClanahan
    Rue McClanahan was an American actress, best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987.-Early life:McClanahan was born Eddie Rue...

    ) is a Southern Baptist
  • The Grady Nutt Show, Rev. Grady Williams (Grady Nutt
    Grady Nutt
    Grady Lee Nutt was a Southern Baptist minister, humorist, television personality, and author. His humor revolved around rural Southern Protestantism and earned him the title as "The Prime Minister of Humor."...

    ) is a minister in a short-lived sitcom on NBC
    NBC
    The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

     who balances family and ministry as he does in the pilot episode where he must preach the funeral of a universally disliked man while coming to terms with his teenage daughter's foray into dating.
  • LA Law, Jane Halliday (Alexandra Powers
    Alexandra Powers
    -Early life:Powers was born in New York City. She grew up in an artsy, liberal environment on both coasts with her divorced parents. Her father teaches acting. She said in an interview that her parents, "encouraged me to find my own truth". Commenting on her faith, she stated, "I pray whenever I...

    ), fundamentalist Baptist and an attorney, as well as an alumna of Bob Jones University
    Bob Jones University
    Bob Jones University is a private, for-profit, non-denominational Protestant university in Greenville, South Carolina.The university was founded in 1927 by Bob Jones, Sr. , an evangelist and contemporary of Billy Sunday...

    . She was introduced to the series in the eighth season premiere
    Season premiere
    In North America, a season premiere is the first episode of a new season of a given television show. It often airs in September or October, after several months of reruns.-Evaluating the changes:...

     of the show when she revealed she was a virgin and intended to remain one until her wedding night
  • The Waltons
    The Waltons
    The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...

    , Almost all the principal characters were Baptists or attended the Baptist church. In the fourth season episode "The Sermon", Rev. Matthew Fordwick (John Ritter
    John Ritter
    Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...

    ) asks John Boy (Richard Thomas
    Richard Thomas (actor)
    Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,...

    ) to deliver a sermon while he goes on his honeymoon. In the fifth season episode "The Baptism" John Walton, Sr. (Ralph Waite
    Ralph Waite
    Ralph Waite is an American actor, whose most notable role was playing John Walton Sr. on the 1970s CBS TV series The Waltons, which he also occasionally directed...

    ) refuses to attend a tent revival or be baptized.

Baptists in film

  • Arachnophobia
    Arachnophobia (film)
    Arachnophobia is a 1990 American comedy horror film directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman. It was the first film released by Hollywood Pictures....

     Coach Beachwood, his wife, daughter (Becky) and son (Bobby). After boasting he taught his son to throw a football before he could walk, Molly Jennings jokingly asks, "Nepotism
    Nepotism
    Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....

    ?". Mrs. Beachwood replies, "Actually, we're Baptist."
  • The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
    The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (film)
    The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a 1982 film adaptation of the musical of the same name released by Universal Pictures, which was co-written and directed by Colin Higgins...

    , Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd says that he was raised a Baptist, to which Miss Mona says she never stayed in the same place long enough to become anything.
  • O Brother, Where Art Thou?
    O Brother, Where Art Thou?
    O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...

    , Pete Hogwallop and Delmar O'Donnell are baptized by a Baptist minister
  • The Preacher's Wife
    The Preacher's Wife
    The Preacher's Wife is a 1996 romantic-family-dramedy-christmas film directed by Penny Marshall, and starring Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, and Loretta Devine. It is a remake of the 1947 film The Bishop's Wife....

    , The pastor Rev. Henry Biggs (Courtney Vance), his wife Julia (Whitney Houston
    Whitney Houston
    Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

    ), his mother-in-law Margueritte Coleman (Jenifer Lewis
    Jenifer Lewis
    Jenifer Jeanette Lewis is an American film and television actress and singer.-Early life:Lewis was born in Kinloch, Missouri, to a nurse's aid mother and a factory worker father. She attended college at Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri...

    ), his son Jeremiah (Justin Pierre Edmund) and many other supporting characters who were members of Saint Matthews Baptist Church.

Baptists in Song

  • "Preachin Blues" (Son House
    Son House
    Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music...

    ) Contains the lines
Yes, I'm gonna get me religion, I'm gonna join the Baptist Church.
You know I wanna be a Baptist preacher, just so I won't have to work.

  • "Cowboys Days" (Terri Clark
    Terri Clark
    Terri Lynn Sauson , known professionally as Terri Clark, is a Canadian country music artist who has had success in both Canada and the United States. Signed to Mercury Records in 1995, she released her self-titled debut that year...

    ) Contains the lines
I was third alto on the second row of the First Baptist church choir
I was keeper of the minutes for the Tri Delts, in charge of the homecoming bonfire
I was a straight 'A', straight laced, level-headed as they come
And parked at the Sonic, isn't that ironic, when my whole world came undone
One slot over was a calf roper giving me his George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 smile
And before I knew Miss Good-Two-Shoes was two-steppin', runnin' wild.

  • "Guilty
    Guilty (The Statler Brothers song)
    "Guilty" is a single by American country music group The Statler Brothers. It was released in July 1983 as the second single from their album Today. The song peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.-Chart performance:...

    " (The Statler Brothers) contains the lines
If she seems bitter of other ways,
Seems to have lost her Baptist ways,
If the truth comes harder than a lie,
If she's guilty, so am I

  • "Lonely Lubbock Lights"(Aaron Watson
    Aaron Watson
    Aaron Watson is an Texas country music singer.Watson was born in Amarillo, Texas and attended Abilene Christian University, where he began learning guitar, after playing junior college baseball in New Mexico. He gigged around Texas before releasing his debut album, A Texas Cafe; the follow-up,...

    ), A singer in a Broken Spoke (a honkeytonk) reveals that a love interest is the daughter of a Baptist minister who is keeping them apart (because he sings in bars.)

  • "Southern Baptist Heartbreak"(The Warren Brothers) contains the lines
Somewhere in the middle of "Have Thy Own Way,"
She left an empty pew;
She said 'I think that's what I'll do.'"

  • "Uneasy Rider" (Charlie Daniels
    Charlie Daniels
    Charles Edward "Charlie" Daniels is an American musician known for his contributions to country and southern rock music. He is known primarily for his number one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and multiple other songs he has performed and written. Daniels has been active as a singer...

    ), a hippie is stranded in a bar in the deep South and the locals start making trouble when the fast-thinking hippie accuses one of the locals of being a spy sent to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. The local replies that He's a "faithful follower of Brother John Birch
    John Birch Society
    The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....

     and a member of Antioch Baptist Church."

See also


External links

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