Proud of the racial harmony achieved in turbulent times, Atlanta has long promoted itself as the city too busy to hate. But it is also known for showing little love toward historical and significant old buildings — the city too busy to remember — with no hesitation to tear them down.
So it was perhaps not surprising that Friendship Baptist, the city’s oldest African-American Baptist church, founded by former slaves with help from whites and still thriving, found itself in the path of bulldozers that will raze the Georgia Dome as its replacement rises next door. The church is to be taken down, as early as Monday, 152 years after it was established.
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