Today we will be talking about Roger Williams 'freedom of speech'.Roger Williams (c. 1603–1683), founder of Rhode Island, was a key figure in forging the distinctive American character. The American was a self-governing man who was equal to all others in his enjoyment of freedom. Williams helped to create this American by making an intellectual connection that led to a unique protection of personal freedom. Liberty required the complete separation of church and state. A man’s conscience must be free from all interference from authority.
Williams was intimately acquainted with the consequences of state involvement in religion, and he prudently emigrated to the New World before open violence erupted. An early wave of Puritans called Pilgrims had founded a colony at Plymouth in 1620. In February 1631, Williams and his wife arrived at the colony of Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where they were warmly welcomed. The welcome did not last long. Williams was immediately offered a prized teaching position, which he immediately rejected owing to a commitment to “separatism” — the belief that Puritans should break completely from a corrupt Church of England. In volume 1 of Conceived in Liberty, Murray Roth bard explained, “An individualist and a fearless logician, Williams had concluded that the Puritan church in Massachusetts, being Separatist de facto, should also be Separatist de jure: that is, should break openly from communion with the Church of England. In short, he pursued the Puritans’ logic further than they were willing to go, and thus embarrassed the Puritans a great deal.”
Williams also rejected the governing document of the colony —the Massachusetts Bay Charter — in part because it sanctioned the confiscation of Indian land; arguably, Williams was also the first American abolitionist to argue against slavery. He also objected to the charter’s civil punishment of religious dissent and disobedience. The latter position particularly outraged authorities. But Williams insisted that the individual alone could determine his relationship with God; all interference by authority was unjustified. “Forced worship stinks in God’s nostrils,” he proclaimed and provided specific criticisms. To find more information go on the link below!


Roger Williams: The Separation of Conscience and State - The Future ...