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The highly religious nature of US settlers is directly connected to our secular freedoms. A lot of early settlers were pretty extreme practicers of their religi

The highly religious nature of US settlers is directly connected to our secular freedoms. A lot of early settlers were pretty extreme practicers of their religions and faced persecution in Europe. They left to practice their religion in a place where they wouldn't be burned as a heretic. It's interesting that these opposing extremists were able to get along separately by agreeing to keep the government secular

shadowgovt 6y ago
It's an interesting piece of American history worth drilling down on. The Virginia Statue of Religious Freedom originated from one of the Southern colonies, which tended towards more English mainstream religion (Jefferson himself was raised in the Church of England, but considered himself a Deist). It served as a sort of "non-aggression pact" between the religions, since the various sects of the Northern colonies had quite a bit of political power by virtue of concentration of their adherents and isolation from traditional European religious power.
Veen 6y ago
Yes, and that’s related to the formation of the Church of England too. The religious settlements in the reign of Elizabeth I and others aimed to bring Catholic-leaning and Protestant-leaning believers together in one broad church, but it couldn’t accommodate every sect, so some were excluded from the national church, persecuted, and eventually left. You can still see the division today in high and low Anglican churches.
mullingitover 6y ago
> They left to practice their religion in a place where they wouldn't be burned as a heretic. Not true, at least in the obvious case of the Pilgrims of Plymouth. They were perfectly free to practice their religion when they lived in the Netherlands. They moved away because they wanted to create their own strict theocratic colony. The Netherlands, in their eyes, had too much religious freedom.
- DigiDigiorno 6y ago
  Even that specific example is a bit of a gray area imo. They were persecuted in England and tried to live in the Netherlands but found life hard to adjust and were also wanting to keep their English identity. So, it is more of persecution by the Church of England that pushed them away. The Netherlands do get a point here for tolerance imo.
  - mullingitover 6y ago
    True, but the point stands: they weren't fleeing persecution. Furthermore, they enthusiastically, viciously persecuted other religious groups in North America. > "For the Puritans, the “Lord’s Kingdom” did not include Quakers, and the Rev. Norton is known as the chief instigator of the persecution of Quakers in New England. He is quoted as saying, “I would carry fire in one hand and faggots in the other, to burn all the Quakers in the world.” The punishment for a Quaker to set foot in Massachusetts in 1660 was death by hanging."[1] > "From Puritan Boston’s earliest days, Catholics (“Papists”) were anathema and were banned from the colonies, along with other non-Puritans. Four Quakers were hanged in Boston between 1659 and 1661 for persistently returning to the city to stand up for their beliefs."[2] [1] https://historicipswich.org/2015/10/13/persecution-of-quakers-by-the-puritans/ https://historicipswich.org/2015/10/13/persecution-of-quaker... [2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-history-of-religious-tolerance-61312684/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-history...
- mensetmanusman 6y ago
  There is a lot of debate over why they moved. e.g. -running out of room -economics -impending war -wanting to venture into the unknown https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91317/holland-first-stop-for-the-pilgrims https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91317/holland-first...

shadowgovt 6y ago

It's an interesting piece of American history worth drilling down on. The Virginia Statue of Religious Freedom originated from one of the Southern colonies, which tended towards more English mainstream religion (Jefferson himself was raised in the Church of England, but considered himself a Deist). It served as a sort of "non-aggression pact" between the religions, since the various sects of the Northern colonies had quite a bit of political power by virtue of concentration of their adherents and isolation from traditional European religious power.

Veen 6y ago

Yes, and that’s related to the formation of the Church of England too. The religious settlements in the reign of Elizabeth I and others aimed to bring Catholic-leaning and Protestant-leaning believers together in one broad church, but it couldn’t accommodate every sect, so some were excluded from the national church, persecuted, and eventually left. You can still see the division today in high and low Anglican churches.

mullingitover 6y ago

> They left to practice their religion in a place where they wouldn't be burned as a heretic. Not true, at least in the obvious case of the Pilgrims of Plymouth. They were perfectly free to practice their religion when they lived in the Netherlands. They moved away because they wanted to create their own strict theocratic colony. The Netherlands, in their eyes, had too much religious freedom.

DigiDigiorno 6y ago
Even that specific example is a bit of a gray area imo. They were persecuted in England and tried to live in the Netherlands but found life hard to adjust and were also wanting to keep their English identity. So, it is more of persecution by the Church of England that pushed them away. The Netherlands do get a point here for tolerance imo.
- mullingitover 6y ago
  True, but the point stands: they weren't fleeing persecution. Furthermore, they enthusiastically, viciously persecuted other religious groups in North America. > "For the Puritans, the “Lord’s Kingdom” did not include Quakers, and the Rev. Norton is known as the chief instigator of the persecution of Quakers in New England. He is quoted as saying, “I would carry fire in one hand and faggots in the other, to burn all the Quakers in the world.” The punishment for a Quaker to set foot in Massachusetts in 1660 was death by hanging."[1] > "From Puritan Boston’s earliest days, Catholics (“Papists”) were anathema and were banned from the colonies, along with other non-Puritans. Four Quakers were hanged in Boston between 1659 and 1661 for persistently returning to the city to stand up for their beliefs."[2] [1] https://historicipswich.org/2015/10/13/persecution-of-quakers-by-the-puritans/ https://historicipswich.org/2015/10/13/persecution-of-quaker... [2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-history-of-religious-tolerance-61312684/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-history...
mensetmanusman 6y ago
There is a lot of debate over why they moved. e.g. -running out of room -economics -impending war -wanting to venture into the unknown https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91317/holland-first-stop-for-the-pilgrims https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91317/holland-first...