Roger Williams
- Annette Watson
- Nov 2
- 3 min read
One man can change the direction of the nation. In recent media, the United States has been
grieved by the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The People of our nation have been amplifying his ideas of personal faith and national polity in exploration of this remarkable man. In the end, the People desire reasonable, civil discussion in our political and familial ideas. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., Charlie Kirk will change his generation and all those that proceed.
In the 1600s, a man named Roger Wiliams also changed his generation and even ours.
Roger Williams is best known as the founder of the Rhode Island colony. He married Mary
Bernard, and eventually had six children (all born in America) named Mary, Freeborn,
Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph. Roger Williams’ life started in England, but his life’s
work was in the New World. His story is one concerning the founding of religious freedom in
America. Born in London (circa 1603), he was trained at Cambridge under the teachings of the
Church of England. However, before graduation, Williams became a Puritan. As a Puritan,
Willaims desired to remain within the Church of England and purify it from within, unlike the
Separatists who removed themselves completely from the Church of England. By the time
Williams came to America in 1630, he had refined his beliefs and had become a Separatist from the Church of England, which he believed was too corrupt to purify from within. Then, after a time, he became a Baptist. At the end of his life, Roger Williams did not hold to any
denominational name because his religious and political beliefs did not “fit” within the existing
paradigms.
Roger Williams is also known as the American writer who initially defined the separation of
church and state. While building off of English theologian John Wycliffe’s belief about the state supporting church ministry, Williams’ beliefs were refined further as he encountered the New World’s vision of religiously governed cities and the treatment of Native Americans. For instance, upon arrival in Boston, Williams was offered the pastorate of the Puritan church in Boston, but he refused because of their connection with the Church of England. In Boston, he began to argue that the civil authorities had no right to punish individuals on matters of religion—such as idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, blasphemy, etc. According to Williams, God gave individuals a freedom of conscience—a jurisdiction that government has no authority to control. Soon, Williams moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and ministered there for about a year. In December of 1632, Williams wrote against the King and the Plymouth Charter, arguing specifically that the Plymouth colony should have purchased the land from the Native Americans. In 1635, after a few short years in the New World, Williams was convicted of sedition and heresy for his statements on religious liberty. Even so, Williams had gained followers in his religious and political persuasion.
Roger Williams also founded Rhode Island in accordance to his religious beliefs on state
governance. In 1636, Williams purchased land from two Narragansett tribal leaders and started the settlement of Providence Plantations—led civilly by the Providence Civil Compact, which later became the Providence Combination. These documents became the first in American history where the civil government and religious institutions were separated into their own spheres of authority: the separation of church and state. Shortly after founding Providence, Roger Williams founded The First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, as both the idea of individual soul liberty and the idea of separation of church and state are tenants of Baptist theology.
Roger Williams’ concepts of liberty of conscience, religious liberty, as well as the separation of church and state became prominent ideas in America. In 1644, Williams published his The
Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, which argued for a wall of separation
between church and state. This book was a direct attack on John Cotton and the requirement
for religious uniformity and practice in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Williams argued that liberty of conscience, especially in areas of religion, was a right given by God. Because of Williams’ theology backed by his actions, the Founders of the United States had a clear path to institute religious liberty over religious tyranny. Roger Williams and his ideas are still remembered and revered today.
May we, like Charlie Kirk and Roger Williams, live out our faith in our community so that many generations will feel the impact of our work.
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