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Saturday, May 23, 2015

The Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, Rhode Island






runs the Roger Williams












A statue of Roger Williams







Roger Williams was an ordained minister in the Church of England who converted to Puritanism.  He and his family left England for Massachusetts in 1631, where Williams spoke out about religious intolerance and the need to separate church from state business. He was banished from the Massachusetts Colony in 1635 and made his way to Rhode Island.  Williams purchased land from the Narragansett Natives and worked to build a colony where freedom of religion and separation of church and state were foundations of life there.






The Colonial Charter granted to
 Rhode Island by King Charles II
included religious freedom for
citizens of the colony.










Since 1663, many religious groups
have settled in Rhode Island,
including: Baptists, Quakers
& Jews.









 




Religious tolerance was extended
 to racial tolerance as Rhode
Island & the rest of the country
 confronted slavery & then






Eric gets a photo of me
& a 17th century reenactor
portraying an early
Rhode Island colonist.

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