First, Baptists are Protestants.
“–noun 1. any Western Christian who is not an adherent of a Catholic, Anglican, or Eastern Church.
2. an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them.”
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/protestant)
Our historical roots lie in those who rejected the Roman Catholic Church and who also rejected infant baptism. There is no line of succession from the early church to Baptists, nor would a thinking Baptist require one. Our measure is how closely we align with God’s Word, not a church hierarchy. There is a good short article here:
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/history/trail.htm
Since each Baptist congregation is completely independent, you can find some pretty weird beliefs. I walked out of one I visited when the preacher started claiming that the KJV is God’s Word, and any other version is heresy.
What makes us different from many Protestants is 1) believer’s baptism, 2) independent congregations, and 3) separation of church from state.
The article I linked to presents the ‘particular baptist’ viewpoint. As someone who has usually worshiped in Southern Baptist Churches while moving around with the military, I’d say that many Baptist seminarians are Calvinist, but the overwhelming majority in the pews are not. Although I left a congregation a while back over the issue, the pastor himself didn’t agree with Calvin, and I honestly have never met a Baptist minister who was a 5 point Calvinist. In 40 years, I’ve never once heard a sermon on predestination. The seminaries may be particular (or peculiar?), but the congregations are general...
I'm ok either way, but which way? Mr. Rogers' Baptists are Protestants. or Brass Lamps the false premise that Baptists are Protestants
Again, emphasis, this is not a debate on the faith of those who choose either viewpoint, just me asking as an outside what should be the naming convention. You guys call yourselves by the term "Baptist", so you are the best people to clarify this for us non-Baptists.
Baptists are characterized by a rejection of the innovations which produced both the Protestant branch and the Catholic limb from which Protestantism springs. Really, it has been some time since I've seen someone on THIS forum turn to a dictionary as "the adult in the room". The given definition is so obviously wrong that it simply underscores the widely understood truth that dictionaries are unreliable and non-authoritative.
Besides, the consideration of a 'departure point' for Baptism brings us back to the point of NYer's response. Some consider the identity of a religion to begin with its formal institution. Baptists, however, evaluate a religion according to the preexisting system of beliefs around which the formal organization consolidates. The "Primitive Urge" which drives Baptists' interest certainly predates the development of Protestantism and the later establishment of a "letterhead institution" simply facilitates the pursuit of that interest.
Our historical roots lie in those who rejected the Roman Catholic Church and who also rejected infant baptism. There is no line of succession from the early church to Baptists, nor would a thinking Baptist require one
Baptists do disagree with Catholics about a specific apostolic succession because the consequent of a "priesthood of all believers" is that a witness succession is, essentially, apostolic. The Christianity of which Baptists give witness is not a new line. Each Baptist was witnessed to by a Christian, who was in turn witnessed to by another, and he by another and so on, back down a line of successive witnessing to the original Christians, the Apostles. This is why Baptists dismiss the claims of some other groups which also claim to "get back to the old church". Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witness's and such all originate with supposedly NEW revelations.