A Canadian Tries to figure out Baptists Poor BD, over on Benediction Blog, is trying to figure out the different kinds of Baptists. I sent him the following comment to help him out.

I track Independent Fundamental Baptists, which is about as nutty as Baptists get. (Wait, forget I said that. It's not true. I'm sure there are nuttier Baptist churches out there.)

As far as I know, there are,
Free-will Baptists
Southern Baptists
Northern Baptists
American Baptists
Independent Baptists (Fundamentalist, also called IFB))
Primitive Baptists
Missionary Baptists
Greater Association of Regular Baptist Churches Baptist (GARBC)

Many of the Fundamentalists (IFB) would not consider ANY Southern Baptist to really be Fundamentalist, as simply being in the SBC implies a certain concession to compromise regarding the authority of the Scripture.

What I have found is that the word "Baptist" means simply that---people who believe that baptism by immersion plays a really significant role in the Christian life (regardless of the fact that the Apostle Paul himself declared he'd never baptize anybody again, as the whole issue was becoming a distraction from the Gospel).

Some people who tote around the name Baptist believe that baptism by immersion is actually essential for salvation. Others make it a requirement for church membership. They may not see itas a requirement for salvation, but they think it's crucial for an obedient life.

The further south you go, in my experience, the less meaningful the term "Baptist" is. When I lived on the border of South Carolina and Georgia, there where churches with the name "Baptist" on the marquee who handled snakes, talked to spirits, and spoke in tongues. To a lot of people, "Baptist" is another way of saying, "We are the people who got it right, and the rest of you didn't." There are also "Baptist Briders," who acknowledge that non-Baptists might be among the redeemed, but only Baptists make up the Bride of Christ.

Granted, the Southern Baptists seem the most conservative. The Independent Baptists SAY they are the most conservative, but the IFB church leadership is so disobedient to (or else so outright ignorant of) what they profess to believe that I don't think that counts.

Anyway, as a person who is Fundamentalist by belief (ie, that the Bible is the sole authority for faith and practice, and is the inerrant Word of God) but not Baptist any more (Presbyterian! Hooray!), I don't think it's any more possible to assign "Baptist" a single, comprehensive definition than it is to assign "Christian" a single, comprehensive definition. The word means too many things to many people.