Roger Williams: America's First Baptist (Religious Freedom in Colonial New England: Part II)

CONTINUED FROM PART i: Freedom in Colonial New England (Part II)

Roger Williams: America's First Baptist

In the first segment of this lecture, I discussed the culture of religious conformity in the Massachusetts Colony. Roger Williams was the first minister to challenge this culture of conformity, proclaiming that the state did not have the authority to force individuals to worship and that religious belief should be a matter of individual conscience. In this segment, I explore Williams' life, his devotion to religion and personal liberty, and his views on the Church and the State.

I also discuss Roger Williams as America's first Baptist and the significance that the Baptist faith has come to play in American religious life. Today, Baptists are the second largest religious group in the United States, with 15% of Americans professing the Baptist faith. This is no accident, as the Baptist faith, with its historic emphasis on an individual's conscience, is very well suited for the independent American mind.

Williams was exiled from the Massachusetts Colony and went on to found Providence Plantations (today known as Rhode Island) on land that he purchased from the Indians. Today, Roger Williams is an icon for American religious liberty as we know it today.

The next segment of this lecture will focus on Anne Hutchinson.

Sound Credit

Air Horn: Mike Koenig

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