Roger Williams' ideas are not discredited - Reader comments at The New York Sun

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Freedom For Religion

Submitted by Gretchen Robinson, Mar 10, 2008 15:52

Roger Williams defended Native Americans, saw us as "one blood" with them and was against forced conversions. He was against swearing an oath on the bible since an atheist ("an unregenerate man") could not be forced to go against the his "conscience." (Conscience was a big word for him). He advocated "soul liberty." He sheltered Anne Hutchinson and the Quakers who were hated at the time. I tried to forestall war with the indians. He wrote one of the first dictionaries of the native language. He wanted a "wall or hedge" of separation between the church and the state, 140 years before Madison. He thought the church would be corrupted by the state and must be kept pure. And to my mind many churches and denomiations HAVE been corrupted by their intercourse with the state. He was most certainly against Boston-style theocracy of the time where the state enforced religious laws. That he said would have enforcers "who know no theology" upholding the domination by the Puritan clergy. The Boston colony maligned and sought to eliminate the RI colony, that "lively experiment" in religious freedom. One could go on and on. Read Edwin Gaustad's excellent biography and don't write about a figure when you do not know what you are talking about. And readers, the next time you are in Providence RI go to the National Park devoted to Roger Williams.

Gretchen Robinson

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
Fr. Neuhaus is an extraordinarily intelligent critic who exemplifies the qualities he attacks in Professor Nussbaum. Any long time reader... [MORE]	Jim Clark	Mar 22, 2008 09:54
Roger Williams defended Native Americans, saw us as "one blood" with them and was against forced conversions. He was against...	Gretchen Robinson	Mar 10, 2008 15:52
Father Neuhaus's critique suggests again that a key, perhaps THE key of any argument is its ethos dimension, i.e. the... [MORE]	George T. Karnezis	Mar 4, 2008 14:24
Father Neuhaus, Your attempt to discredit Nussbaum's contention that Roger William's conclusions about religious freedom, which he based on his... [MORE]	curious sampler	Mar 3, 2008 19:34
We know the USA is a failed social experiment and every time a new change is introduced to diversify USA... [MORE]	HRossner	Mar 2, 2008 15:44
Father Neuhaus criticizes Nussbaum for missing the fact that religious conviction has been the grounds for the defense of religious... [MORE]	John Hacker-Wright	Feb 29, 2008 08:43
According to what Hacker-Wright is saying, Neuhaus has misread Williams, not Rawls. But Neuhaus's only point about Williams is that... [MORE]	Michael Mattair	Mar 5, 2008 14:09
Just because a view is a product of another does not mean it is essentially tied to that view. Nussbaum... [MORE]	John Hacker-Wright	Mar 12, 2008 13:13
There was once a time not so long ago when comments such as those of Father Neuhaus would have evoked... [MORE]	Stephen R. Marks	Feb 29, 2008 02:48
I seriously doubt that Jefferson, the man that removed all mention of miracles from his version of the bible and... [MORE]	Corey Long	Feb 28, 2008 17:47
Thank you for the review of Nussbaum's new work. It is clear where Father Neuhaus is coming from in his... [MORE]	Jim H.	Feb 28, 2008 13:07
in order to have freedom of any sort there has to be order and law. people have to refrain from... [MORE]	Fender	Feb 28, 2008 10:22
Fender claims Nussbaum has yet to comment on religious violence. In fact, she is well aware of such things; her... [MORE]	Bill in DC	Feb 28, 2008 22:50