Baptists
The Baptists appear in The Handmaid's Tale as one of the principal armed enemies of the Republic of Gilead, a sect that the regime actively fights and suppresses through military action, propaganda, and public executions. Their presence in the narrative serves to illustrate the ongoing civil war that defines Gilead's external reality, even as the regime attempts to project an image of stability and divine favor.
Military Conflict and Suppression
The war against the Baptists is a recurring subject of official news broadcasts and casual conversation. During her daily walks, Offred's shopping partner Ofglen reports that "They've defeated more of the rebels, since yesterday," and when asked what they were, she replies, "Baptists. They had a stronghold in the Blue Hills. They smoked them out." This exchange, conducted in the ritualized call-and-response of Handmaid speech, reveals that the Baptists are not merely a scattered opposition but an organized force capable of holding territory. The regime's television news reinforces this narrative, showing footage of "the Appalachian Highlands, where the Angels of the Apocalypse, Fourth Division, are smoking out a pocket of Baptist guerillas, with air support from the Twenty-first Battalion of the Angels of Light." The visual propaganda depicts helicopters and exploding trees, framing the conflict as a righteous campaign against heretics. The Baptists are thus positioned as a tangible, ongoing threat that justifies the regime's militarism and the sacrifices demanded of its citizens.
Ideological and Religious Opposition
The Baptists' resistance is not merely military but fundamentally religious, challenging Gilead's claim to be the sole legitimate Christian state. The regime's response is to brand them as rebels and heretics, executing captured fighters and displaying their bodies on the Wall as a deterrent. Offred notes that the bodies of executed Baptists are sometimes marked with placards, though the specific markings for Baptists are not detailed in the same way as for other condemned groups. The sect's existence underscores the fragmentation of Christianity in the Gilead era, where different denominations—Baptists, Quakers, Catholics, and others—are either suppressed, forced to convert, or driven into armed resistance. The Baptists, unlike the Quakers who engage in nonviolent underground work, take up arms, making them a direct military challenge to the regime's authority.
Narrative and Thematic Significance
The Baptists function within the narrative as a symbol of the broader resistance that Gilead cannot entirely crush. Their presence in news reports and casual conversation provides Offred—and the reader—with a glimpse of a world beyond the controlled, silent streets of the Commander's neighborhood. The war against the Baptists is one of the few sources of external information available to the Handmaids, and even if the news is propagandistic, it offers a connection to a larger reality. The Baptists also serve to highlight the regime's hypocrisy: while Gilead claims to be restoring Christian order, it is engaged in a brutal war against fellow Christians. This contradiction is never explicitly stated by Offred but is implicit in the regime's need to "smoke out" and execute those who share its faith but reject its authority. The Baptists, in their armed defiance, represent the possibility of organized, violent resistance—a path that Offred herself does not take but that exists as a counterpoint to her own quiet acts of survival.
