Roger Williams and the fight for control of your soul
Posted February 21, 2010 by bec_young in In the News
I'm in Providence, RI, currently the Artist-in-Residence at AS220, a fascinating complex of facilities with a community performance space and gallery, artists' studios, a community printshop, a restauant and bar, and much more. My dad insisted while I was here that I check out the Roger Williams National Memorial. This is a small park with a information building, complete with federal park rangers, in the middle of downtown Providence, dedicated to a pastor who spent much of his life telling folks that if there's any two things in life that should be kept separate, they are Church and State. He also founded the first Baptist church in the country, and was of the belief that people should be baptized when they are adults capable of making that decision, not children with the decision being made by the parents. His term for this was soul freedom, and he said: "...at last to proclaim a true and absolute soul freedom to all the people of the land impartially; so that no person be forced to pray nor pay, otherwise then as his soul believeth and consenteth" (The Complete Writings of Roger Williams, Vol. VII). If you're following the news about the Texas Board of Education rulings on what goes into textbooks then you know that the debate over the separation of Church and State is far from over. As such a large state, Texas holds a lot of sway with textbook manufacturers, so what is created in Texas, Creationism or creativity, doesn't necessarily stay in Texas. Personally, I remember trembling with anger in my highschool history class because of the slant of the textbook, and I sincerely hope that, as a nation, we will stop forcing young people to consenteth to what they don't necessarily believeth.
Comments
Post a comment
Yeah Bec!
Posted by: roger at February 23, 2010 8:28 PM