Religious Freedoms or Lack There Of

Religious Freedoms or Lack There Of

Religious freedom can be viewed in different ways depending on the person or persons seeking the freedom. One group may search for the freedom to practice their own religion, such as the pilgrims and the puritans. However others may view religious freedom as the right to openly practice any religion, a view portrayed in, “Roger Williams on Liberty of Conscience”. These different views are all but insignificant in the development of the American colonies because many of the colonies were formed solely on the quest for so-called religious freedom.

The pilgrims set out their views and their form of government in a document entitled, “The Mayflower Compact.” This document calls for a governor and a group of advisors elected by Plymouth’s adult males. This governing body did not call for a separation between church and state, because they thought that for the colony to flourish and maintain order they had to be under a god loving government. Though the Pilgrims were made up of primarily puritans, they chose to extend their group to include all Christians. They stated this in the Mayflower Compact by saying that their voyage was for the Glory of God, and the Advancement of the Christian Faith. This leads one to believe that the religious freedom they longed for was that of their own or Christianity, and not that of other cultures such as the Jews, Islamic, and Native Americans.

John Winthrop’s document, “Christian Charity, a Model Hereof”, is a much deeper view of puritan beliefs. His goal was to establish a base of beliefs for, “The City on a Hill”, as he called it. This city would be perfect and prosperous if the guidelines were followed according to Winthrop. He only mentions the presence of Christians in the city and states that all true Christians are of one body in Christ, and that the different parts of the body are joined together by love for one another. Winthrop’s model consisted of four main things that had to be considered in order for the city to meet it’s goal; first, the person; second, the work; third, the end; and fourth, the means. Winthrop refers to the person, as being a company professing themselves as fellow members in Christ. The work is expressed as their effort to form a civil and religious form of government that can work together with the public to maintain order.