The little known story of the separation of Church and State begins in 17th century New England. Historian and author Bruce Gourley tells that story in a seven-minute YouTube video posted on May 15, 2024 by PechaKucha Bozeman. Click here for the video.

(Above) King James was the only one at that time who really had freedom for he was head of both the church and the state and could do whatever he wished legally, but he had some opposition despite the fact that he had the ultimate freedom. He would send out his spies and his armed men to hunt the opposition down in the countryside to try to bring them to order. Eventually, he did catch some of these folks who would later become known as Baptists.

(Above) Roger Williams left for America seeking religious freedom while people like Obadiah Holmes were arrested because he was holding an unauthorized meeting in Boston and was given forty lashes. Williams was banished from Salem and escaped with the help of the Massasoit Ousamequin who he had befriended while in Plymouth.

(Above) Williams left land in Plymouth Colony to found Providence where he preached freedom of conscience. A Baptist was dragged out of a meeting house by Christian thugs from an unauthorized church and almost drowned in the stream near the church in 1778, two years after the Declaration of Independence.