He argued that religion was corrupted by any government interference in spiritual affairs. By this time Williams had been advocating the complete separation of church and state. Yet the Salem congregation ignored the order, having already been well schooled by Williams on the rights of self-government. Magistrates (lawmakers) in Boston, the capital of the Massachusetts colony, immediately protested and called for Williams's removal. A year and a half later he was appointed chief teacher for the town. Within four months Williams had returned with his family to Salem. In 1633, after their arrival at Plymouth, Mary Williams gave birth to their first child, a daughter. He thought it best to leave Salem, so the Williamses went to Plymouth. Soon Williams came into conflict with authorities in Boston because of his policies. The Anglican Church required members to seek forgiveness through clergymen.) In addition, he forbade members of the church congregation to worship or pray with anyone, even family members, who had not under-gone "regeneration." ("Regeneration" was the term for salvation, or forgiveness of sins directly from God. He claimed that such a procedure interfered with the right of the individuals to interpret the Bible (the text that is the basis of Christianity). One of Williams's first acts was to demand that Salem clergymen stop officiating at meetings (religious services) with the church congregation. Therefore he and his wife settled in Salem, where he took an assignment as assistant teacher or minister. Nevertheless, Williams felt they were not sufficiently free of the English church. Although New England ministers had been ordained in the Anglican Church, they held Puritan beliefs and were pursuing separation from Anglicanism. He objected that the congregation had not severed ties with the Church of England, which, as a branch of the British government, controlled religious activities in the colonies. Williams was invited to be an interim (temporary) pastor at a church in Boston, yet again he refused to serve. The couple arrived in Massachusetts in 1631. Shortly before leaving England, Williams married Mary Warnard. Instead, he decided to move to Massachusetts to join Winthrop and other Puritans. Evidence also indicates that Williams was offered a higher position in the church, but declined the appointment because he did not like the Anglican liturgy (religious service). Records show that in 1629 he was serving as chaplain at the estate of William Masham in Essex. At Cambridge Williams met John Winthrop (see entry), who later became governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.Īfter Williams graduated from Cambridge in 1626 he apparently was ordained as a clergyman in the Church of England (the official state religion also called the Anglican Church). Williams proved to be a good student, and in 1623 Coke and others financed Williams's attendance at Cambridge University, where he continued to excel in his studies. Impressed with Williams's performance,Ĭoke decided to finance his education at Sutton's Hospital, a school where Coke had placed only one other scholar. Williams's job was to record, in a type of shorthand, speeches and sermons that were delivered in the Star Chamber (court). As a teenager he showed intelligence and motivation while he was in the employment of Edward Coke, a lawyer and influential figure in London. He was the son of Alice and James Williams, a tailor. Roger Williams was born around 1603 in London, England. He is credited with starting the first Baptist church in America. Unlike other colonists, Williams also believed that land in New England belonged to Native Americans and therefore should be purchased, rather than seized, by the British government. In the process he founded and governed Rhode Island, the first American colony to be based on separation of church and state. He began his quest in 1636, five years after he arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when he became an enemy of the Puritans (those who advocated strict moral and spiritual codes). Roger Williams was a religious leader whose spiritual journey forced him to leave one church and then another. all men may walk as their consciences persuade them." Pioneer of religious freedom, founder of Rhode Island
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