Religious Freedoms or Lack There OfEssay title: Religious Freedoms or Lack There OfTate HamiltonDr. BeckenbaughHistory 201September 30, 2002Religious Freedoms or Lack There OfReligious 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.
[…]
Reaction: It is also the belief of some on the Right that freedom of conscience is more important to an individual than a right to religious expression. A recent poll in this regard supports that. According to Pew Research, about six in ten Americans now have a constitutional claim to their religion, and among those that do not, about 8 in 10 have no religious foundation on which to argue against their faith. The other three percent say that people should have a right to express themselves, meaning more than half of those who want free expression of religion believe they can express and participate in free expression without fear.
[…]
From the United States Constitution: http://www.ced.gov/statutes/secs/a/en-US/sec.17-en.html#r9
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 Plymouths 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 Winthrops 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. Winthrops model consisted of four main things that had to be considered in order for the city to meet its 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. The end is an attempt to better our live in Christ and to do more work for the lord to rid the world of evil influences. Lastly the means are a combination of the work and the end, it is the idea that for the city to be prosperous each person will have to do more physically and spiritually for each other and the community as a whole.