John Throckmorton and Separation of Church and State

In 1640, thirty-nine male residents of Providence in what is now Rhode Island voted to ratify a system of government that allowed residents complete freedom of conscience in religious matters. The exact phrase they agreed to was “Wee agree, as formerly hath bin the liberties of the town, so still, to hould forth liberty of Conscience.”

This was the settlement of Roger Williams, the Baptist minister who had been expelled from Salem, MA and who championed religious freedom next door to John Winthrop’s Massachusett’s Bay colony. As Williams and other Rhode Island dissenters learned, the wrong beliefs earned you trouble not just with the ministers and the church but also with civil authorities.

Williams founded Providence in 1636 and deeded shares of the land to twelve other men in 1638. One of those men was John Throckmorton. Throckmorton, a direct ancestor of mine, came from England with Williams and was also one of the 39 residents of the city who signed the first charter guaranteeing liberty of conscience.

Doing a little Ancestry.com research, I recently discovered this direct line back to John Throckmorton and I must admit it gave me an irrational measure of pleasure. I have taken pretty clear stands for separation of church and state and vigorously opposed Christian nationalism. My David Barton fact checking work was partly motivated by passion for the belief in church-state separation. The current revival of Christian nationalism motivates me to counter it as I am able. Learning that a great, great, (five more greats) grandfather was involved at the beginning as a co-laborer and friend with Roger Williams is deeply satisfying.

Even after John Throckmorton became a Quaker, he stood up to Williams when Williams criticized the Quaker movement. It appears my ancestor was zealous to defend his independence of mind, even when his old friend came against him. Another plus in my mind.

Baptists Then and Now

The story of Williams and Great(x7)-Grandpa Throckmorton reminds me that once upon a time Baptists were known for their fierce dedication to separation of church and state. Now, they are known for these shenanigans:

Here is John MacArthur declaring that he doesn’t support religious freedom.

John Leland, the great Baptist who preached in MA and VA, said:

No national church can in its organization be the Gospel Church. National church takes in the whole nation and no more, whereas the Church takes in no nation but those who fear God and work in every nation. The notion of a Christian commonwealth should be exploded forever.

Should one sect be pampered above others? Should not government protect all kinds of people of every species of religion without showing the least partiality? Has not the world had enough proofs of the impolicy and cruelty of favoring a Jew more than a Pagan, Turk, or Christian, or a Christian more than either of them? Why should a man be proscribed or any wife disgraced for being a Jew, a Turk, a Pagan, or a Christian of any denomination when his talents and veracity as a civilian, entitles him to the confidence of the public?

Government should protect every man in thinking and speaking freely, and see that one does not abuse another. The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest to grant indulgence, whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians.

Many Christian nationalists today want the government to privilege Christianity. They don’t like what some people do in their private lives and want the government to legislate against it. Even though the state has no compelling interest in regulating this private conduct or conscience, Christian nationalists appeal to concepts like biblical law and biblical morality to suggest that the civil law should reflect their idea of what the Bible teaches.

 

14 thoughts on “John Throckmorton and Separation of Church and State”

  1. As an 8th great-grandson of John Throckmorton, I really appreciated this blog post. I’m an ex-Mormon who lives in Utah the need for separation of church and state is very apparent here.
    I came across this just by researching John Throckmorton and trying to learn more about him, his beliefs, and notable events in his life.

    1. Hello, cousin! Glad you stopped by. My contact info is in the About tab of the blog. Let me know what you learn. I am also researching grandpa John and want to get as much on this story as I can. Best to you!

  2. Thank you for sharing some fascinating history, Dr. Throckmorton. Your timely comparison is a great tool for highlighting just how far today’s U.S. White Nationalist Evangelicals have fallen.

  3. Here’s a piece of trivia for you: Rhode Island is the smallest state but has the longest name of all the US states.

    1. Not anymore on the longest name. They recently dropped the “and Providence Plantations” from the official state name because of the slavery connotations.

        1. According to Wikipedia (and I think I also read about it at the time), the change passed in the November 2020 election. I guess we can be excused for being distracted by other things for that election.

          1. yes, I did miss that. last time they had a vote on it (2015 I think) it was an overwhelming “No” to the name change. Now all the trival pursuit games are wrong :(.

          2. The times they are achangin’. Here is Maryland the legislature finally abolished Maryland My Maryland as the state song. The Republicans gave the identical arguments as for statues of Confederates. I found it refreshingly honest that they were openly supporting a denunciation of Abraham Lincoln and a call to arms to kill US Army soldiers.

          3. After 150-odd years, Maryland finally decided to get back on the right side of history? I am surprised.

  4. Ah, Rhode Island! New England’s cranky child.

    1638 was also the year Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop chartered the oldest extant militia in the country, the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, to which my father belonged (along with JFK and a whole slew of Massachusetts pols). Growing up in Massachusetts, Rhode Island was literally just down the road from my house. Though I could never square Newport with the generally egalitarian outlook Rhode Island took.

    None of which has to do with my fervent belief in the separation of church and state. When the nuns told me as a child that, sad to say, my Protestant friends were all going to hell, I began my alienation from the Mother Church. My separation was complete when I was 15 and stopped attending church.

    Madison understood well that entanglement of religion in the government’s sphere led only to division and eventual bloodshed, and vice versa. Yet it seems that a goodly number of my fellow citizens still wish to impose their theology on me whether I like it or not.

    It never ends well. Did they skip Sunday School when it came to “Render unto Caesar”? A wise court once said that the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures (in the Fourth Amendment) was the right to be left alone, and I feel the same toward religion.

  5. congratulations, Warren. always a good feeling when one’s ancestor is shown to be a good guy. If I recall correctly, there are some nefarious individuals in my family tree.

    state loving churches and church loving governments have been around for a long time, at least as old as Constantine and Saint Augustine, and probably longer.

    I am grateful for our founding fathers who had the wisdom to create non-preferential freedoms across a broad spectrum.

  6. Ah, Rhode Island! New England’s cranky child.

    1638 was also the year Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop chartered the oldest extant militia in the country, the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, to which my father belonged (along with JFK and a whole slew of Massachusetts pols). Growing up in Massachusetts, Rhode Island was literally just down the road from my house. Though I could never square Newport with the generally egalitarian outlook Rhode Island took.

    None of which has to do with my fervent belief in the separation of church and state. When the nuns told me as a child that, sad to say, my Protestant friends were all going to hell, I began my alienation from the Mother Church. My separation was complete when I was 15 and stopped attending church.

    Madison understood well that entanglement of religion in the government’s sphere led only to division and eventual bloodshed, and vice versa. Yet it seems that a goodly number of my fellow citizens still wish to impose their theology on me whether I like it or not.

    It never ends well. Did they skip Sunday School when it came to “Render unto Caesar”? A wise court once said that the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures (in the Fourth Amendment) was the right to be left alone, and I feel the same toward religion.

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