Yorkshire Yankee:

There's white Baptists and black Baptists, southern and northern. I am the sole (soul) white male member of a black Baptist church with a congregation of over 1,500. Now that we've moved, we don't get down to our "home" church as often and we go to a Baptist Church where we live, most sundays. It's primarily a white Baptist church, although there several black families (and my wife is black.) Dancing is not only common at the black Baptist church, it happens spontaneously during the service. Three years ago, our black church took a trip to Ghana and we attended a Baptist Church there where they put everyone to shame as far as vigorous, enthusiastic, rhythmic dancing is concerned. We brought some of that back in our Spirits, and it is becoming a more frequent part of our service here.

The mostly white Baptist church where we live now has square dancing at the family picnic during the summer, and everyone dances enthusiastically. Several members aprticipate regularly throughout the year in square and contra dancing.

Over the last few years, my group has played in countless Baptist churches, mostly black. I've never come across anyone who wasn't enthusiastic about dancing. One of the first times that my group sang in a church was for the funeral of one of our member's wives. I was singing the lead on a song "When I Get To Glory" and half of the church was not only on their feet, but were dancing in the aisles.
That was a new experience for me.

The Baptists who get the bad name for all Baptists are some (but not all) of the Southern Baptists, who are very strict. But, even there, the Pastor of our wonderful, warm, inviting, multi-cultural dancin' church that we go to where we live is a Southern Baptist.

It only goes to show.

Jerry