Reason.com posted this facinating little essay on Roger Williams recently. That Reson.com picks this up is quite interesting. But there you have it. Here is a great quotation.
Given the chance to recant, Williams proved, as Gaustad puts it, “more a man of principle than prudence.” In early 1636 he fled with his wife and children, wandering the frozen New England landscape for weeks before buying property from Indians and settling Providence, a city dedicated to “Liberty of Conscience,” or true religious freedom. Indeed, even as Williams helped establish the first Baptist congregation in the colonies, he worked to guarantee civil rights for nonbelievers. Later, he would provide a haven for another great religious dissenter, Anne Hutchinson, after her banishment from Massachusetts, and secure a royal charter for what became Rhode Island—the first such English grant to articulate fully secular government.This is the massive frustration and confusion about being a Baptist these days. Our tradition is founded on the theological premise that secularism is for our embetterment simply because people have to have a faith choice and it may be the only social system that allows for it...it allows for democracy. And yet our theology seems to be pushing back as well. We walk a tightrope. It makes many nervous. Often we slip and you get the SBC...or you get some secularism that lacks a Savior. It is a hard journey, but it is worth it. Posted by tripp at November 21, 2005 04:23 PM