This Baptist pastor went to jail over taxes. On February 6 in 1749, Isaac Backus was imprisoned for refusing to pay the tax that supported the state sponsored Congregational church. Backus believed forcing citizens to fund a church violated religious liberty. His resistance helped fuel the growing argument for separating church and state. What seemed like a small protest would later help shape a nation’s understanding of freedom, as Backus took his cause to the Continental Congress and fought fo

On this day in 1840, Baptist work officially began in Galveston, Texas. On January 30, 1840, the First Baptist Church of Galveston was formed. That Thursday evening, James Huckins, the first missionary to Texas sent by the Baptist Home Mission Society, met with nine charter members. Just days later, regular worship services began. From a small meeting, one of Texas’s early Baptist congregations was born. Follow for daily moments from Baptist history. | Southern Baptist History