Week 15

"Roger Williams (1603 – 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island. He was a staunch advocate for religious liberty, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the Native Americans. Initially a Puritan minister, his beliefs evolved and he questioned the authority of the Puritan church in enforcing religious conformity. He was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and he established Providence Plantations in 1636 as a refuge offering what he termed "liberty of conscience" making Rhode Island the first government in the Western world to guarantee religious freedom in its founding charter. His ideas on religious tolerance and civil government directly influenced the principles later enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. He briefly became a Baptist, and in 1638 he founded the First Baptist Church in America in Providence. He then moved beyond organized religion, becoming a "seeker" who did not identify with any specific church. Williams studied the language of the New England Native Americans and published the first book-length study of it in English. Today, Williams's legacy continues to shape debates on religious liberty and the role of government in matters of conscience, with his writings cited in legal arguments and Supreme Court decisions on the separation of church and state." (Wikipedia) Roger Williams is the key figure in our constitutional provision of separation of church and state. This idea was unacceptable to every government and every religious authority in the world when he proposed it. In 1787, when the Constitution was written in Philadelphia, it became the bedrock cornerstone of the American Constitution. The exact phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. Instead, the legal concept is rooted in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

 

REQUIRED READING FOR THE WHOLE YEAR OF COMING TO AMERICA

Wilfred McClay,

Land of Hope,

Encounter Books,

ISBN ‎ 978-1641713771


 

RECOMMENDED READING

John M. Barry,

Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty,

Viking,

ISBN 978-0670023059


Hardcover format would be a good purchase choice for this book, not too expensive.