First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans

First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans is the oldest Presbyterian congregation in Louisiana (1818) and the second oldest Protestant congregation in the entire Mississippi Basin after Christ Church of New Orleans (1816). First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans (FPCNO) has played a pivotal role in the history of the Protestant church in the South as well as the history of New Orleans in the late 19th century, especially under the political and religious leadership of Rev. Dr. Benjamin Morgan Palmer who encouraged the Southern Presbyterian Church to secede at the beginning of the American Civil War, an action which was quickly imitated by most of the other Protestant denominations in the Confederate States of America. However, in the 21st century, FPCNO is now more widely known for its progressive stands on race, social justice and gender issues.