Study Guide 1
Roger Williams: an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. He began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America, the First Baptist Church of Providence. in October 1635 he was tried by the General Court and convicted of sedition and heresy. The Court declared that he was spreading "diverse, new, and dangerous opinions". He was then exiled to Rhode Island. William believed that the church and state should not be mixed, separation protects the church. He declared that the state could legitimately concern itself only with matters of civil order, but not religious belief. The state had no business in trying to enforce the "first Table" of the Ten Commandments, those first commandments that dealt with the relationship between God and persons. The state must confine itself to the commandments that dealt with the relations between people: murder, theft, adultery, lying, honoring parents, and so forth. William died in 1683.
Jeremiad:
The term jeremiad refers to a sermon or another work that accounts for the misfortunes of an era as a just penalty for great social and moral evils, but holds out hope for changes that will bring a happier future. It derives from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, who in the seventh century B.C. attributed the calamities of Israel to its abandonment of the covenant with Jehovah and its return to pagan idolatry, denounced with "lurid and gloomy eloquence" its religious and moral iniquities, and called on the people to repent and reform in order that Jehovah might restore them to his favor and renew the ancient covenant. Present is corrupt, past is noble, return to ways of the past.
William Penn: Quaker at 22. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Indians. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed.
Act of Religious Toleration: Permitted all religions. Democratic government with separation of powers. The Act allowed freedom of worship for...
