Fascinating what you can find out on the Internet - someone gave me a printed copy of the canons of the Council of Orange (529AD) which got me thinking about the whole Calvinism / Arminian debate. Of the few Baptists I know here in the USA all take the Calvinist road yet I know that Baptists in England dont all see things the same way. On the website for Baptist Union of Great Britain I found an absolute gem:
Persecuted for their beliefs throughout the 17th Century, Baptists at one stage developed into two streams of theological thought: The General Baptists believed that when Christ died on the cross he died for everyone in general; the Particular Baptists, however, believed that Christ died for the elect ie a particular group of people. Later these two streams came together to form the present Baptist Union of Great Britain.
So it seems that you can be Baptist without being a Calvinist - that both sides can live together in harmony within the same organization and share the same goals. Believe me, this is great news!

