Fuck This "Xtian Nation" Shit!

[Polaris]

He started the first Baptist church in the United States. It seems someone who you know starts a church likely practices the religion, but I doubt you know enough about American history to know anything about Roger Williams.

Nice. Assumptions, and poorly-placed ones, at that. I would say I expected better, but I'd be lying.

You kind of went for the face value of my reply and didn't bother to spend much more than the most minimal amount of time thinking about it, so let me delve a bit deeper, here.

He studied theology. He studied the practices of the churches all across Europe, and he saw what happens when a church was sponsored by the state; war. Lots and lots of bloody war. Why is that, I wonder? Why is it you can force a nation of people to be educated and literate and nothing happens? No conflict resulting from it? Why is it when you force a nation of people to believe in religion suddenly wars break out?

Mr. Williams was a fairly intelligent individual, but he stopped short of understanding what it was exactly that caused wars to break out because of nationalized religion, namely that ignorance fosters contempt, and contempt breeds conflict, and religion induces ignorance.

He was starting to come to a conclusion many today are starting to realize to be truth; religion is the greatest catalyst and pettiest reason for war...and moreover that religion is little more than opinion. And when you try to force an opinion on someone else who does not share that opinion, conflict will always arise.

So, to summarize: He studied religion, and advocated it not being something that had any place in the affairs of government and vice versa based on his findings and research. He saw what happened when you tried to force religion on people. He also saw Christianity for what has been since damn-near day one: An excuse to grab for power. Though he never came to that latter conclusion.

So where is the part of your post that is rooted in history? Conjecture of that nature is far from academic.

Remember history is not English or philosophy class.