April 5 - Providence

April 5 – Providence

The Puritans were all for religious freedom until it smacked them in the face.

Roger Williams was offered a position as a pastor and teacher at the Congregationalist Church in Massachusetts, but he refused it based on the fact that he believed civil judges shouldn’t enforce religious beliefs. He began preaching among the Native Americans which was fine with everyone until he pushed a little harder by declaring that the Natives were the true owners of the land. That got him banished from Massachusetts.

The year was 1635. Winter was coming. His wife was pregnant and his daughter was just two. He didn’t have a horse and he had to get out of town fast. He left them in safety and traveled for 2 ½ months until a native tribe gave him shelter.

The next year, he purchased a small bay just to the south of Massachusetts and brought his family and several friends to live there. He named it “Providence” and wrote a charter declaring that a person of any faith would be welcome there.

Three years later, he became the first Baptist in the New World and founded the first Baptist church in the thirteen colonies. Eight months later, questioning his beliefs, he left the Baptist church.

One of the first people to arrive in Providence was a woman named Anne Hutchison, who fled Boston because of the strength of her beliefs. She led a group of six women who met weekly to discuss the Sunday sermon. Pretty soon large numbers of people began to gather with her.

Soon, her intelligence and boldness got her into trouble when she claimed that Christians weren’t bound by human law. As she attempted to explain Paul’s doctrine of grace, she missed his teaching on obedience to civil authorities. She was accused of treason. During her trial, it became quite clear that she was much more knowledgeable of the Bible than her accusers and they couldn’t prove any charges against her. However, she managed to send them over the edge by her claim that God had spoken to her. They banished her. She took her family and left for Providence.

Rhode Island would always be the smallest of the colonies, yet this was the birth of the idea that civil government should never favor any religious belief.