If you’re a Baptist (and I was a Baptist), then you’re a Protestant. There’s no way for you to avoid that appellation.
I hope you’re not getting your view of Christian history from “The Trail of Blood.” It would explain a lot about your posts, though.
Actually, no I’m not a protestant. I’ve read Trail of Blood and think it’s probably generally true, but more than that I’ve read the Bible. Jesus said he’d preserve His church. If there were no churches paralleling the Catholic domination than that makes Jesus a liar.
You'll get some debate about that answer - not every baptist group accepts the identification with Protestantism. So in anticipation of the debate to come, a little preemptive education may be in order here. It's all centers around the "Trail of Blood":
Vatican's claim of link to apostles has parallels in Baptist successionism
"...some conservative Baptists...reject the label “Protestant,” since successionists can’t accept the view that Baptists emerged out of the Protestant Reformation in the 17th century..."