2 Final
2. Discuss the ideas of Roger Williams as reflected in his “A Letter to the Town of Province”, written in 1655, as forerunners of the separation of church and state that was established as the colonies became a nation.
Roger Williams was one of the most well-known English Protestant Theologians of his time. He grew up in Anglican England and had a change of faith after attending Cambridge, becoming a Puritan. Thus, he went against the norms of society by defying the Anglican Church and expressing his despise towards it. Williams moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where he preached his beliefs of Separatism, freedom of religion, and separation of church in state. The following passage highlights his views on the freedom of religion: “It hath fallen out sometimes, that both Papists and Protestants, Jews and Turks, may be embarked in one ship; upon which supposal I affirm, that all liberty of conscience, that ever I pleaded for, turns upon these two hinges - that none of the Papists, Protestants, Jews, or Turks be forced to come to the ship’s prayers or worship, nor compelled from their own prater or worship, if they practice any.”
In Roger Williams’ eyes the church had died and would remain dead until God rekindled the spark of the early church through the love and authority of the apostles he would raise up at some point in the future. It did no good to try to convert people to a dead religion. Williams began to call himself a “waiter,” for he saw no alternative but to wait patiently until that restoration. Meanwhile, he and the rest of mankind must find a way to live in peace and practice their diverse and divided religions according to the persuasion of their own conscience.
This conclusion brought Roger Williams to his understanding of the proper role of the state. He realized that the affairs of the state ought to be purely secular. He rejected John Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” vision of the Puritan colony in Massachusetts, in which the civil government had the
Roger Williams was one of the most well-known English Protestant Theologians of his time. He grew up in Anglican England and had a change of faith after attending Cambridge, becoming a Puritan. Thus, he went against the norms of society by defying the Anglican Church and expressing his despise towards it. Williams moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where he preached his beliefs of Separatism, freedom of religion, and separation of church in state. The following passage highlights his views on the freedom of religion: “It hath fallen out sometimes, that both Papists and Protestants, Jews and Turks, may be embarked in one ship; upon which supposal I affirm, that all liberty of conscience, that ever I pleaded for, turns upon these two hinges - that none of the Papists, Protestants, Jews, or Turks be forced to come to the ship’s prayers or worship, nor compelled from their own prater or worship, if they practice any.”
In Roger Williams’ eyes the church had died and would remain dead until God rekindled the spark of the early church through the love and authority of the apostles he would raise up at some point in the future. It did no good to try to convert people to a dead religion. Williams began to call himself a “waiter,” for he saw no alternative but to wait patiently until that restoration. Meanwhile, he and the rest of mankind must find a way to live in peace and practice their diverse and divided religions according to the persuasion of their own conscience.
This conclusion brought Roger Williams to his understanding of the proper role of the state. He realized that the affairs of the state ought to be purely secular. He rejected John Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” vision of the Puritan colony in Massachusetts, in which the civil government had the