Roger Williams

            Roger Williams was one of the few people that the Puritans considered a religious fanatic. He felt very strongly about all of his beliefs and wouldn’t change them even when it was in his own best interest. “Williams’ greatness lies in his refusal to keep his head down in a society that prizes nothing more than harmony and groupthink… He cares more about truth than popularity,  respect or personal safety.”(127) Williams believed that God and religion were pure and special things that shouldn’t be mixed with government or politics. “To Williams, however, this liaison means the ministers are dragging the snow-white robes of Christ through the wilderness muck of government.”(138) This concept lead to the separation of church and state. Williams’ thinking wasn’t accepted in Boston at the time. It was considered dangerous to question authority and not conform to social norms, so he was banished. He was charged with “spreading ‘new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates,’ issuing ‘letters of defamation’, and maintaining the aforementioned dangerous opinions ‘without retraction.’”(144)  William’s banishment led to the Rhode Island Charter stating: “No person within the said colony, at any time hereafter shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted or called in question, for any difference in opinion in matters of religion.”(240) Thanks to Williams, the people of Rhode Island were given religious freedom long before the rest of New England.

Williams forward thinking did not involve only government, he also respected the rights of the Indians  more than the other Europeans (which isn’t saying a lot.) “Williams says that the royal charter that gave Plymouth the rights to Plymouth is illegal because what Plymouth really needed was a deed from the Indians. Williams is under the impression the land belonged to its original inhabitants.”(113) Today, this doesn’t sound far-fetched, but at the time he would have been considered crazy for suggesting that land should belong to “such savages.”  He even went so far as to accuse the colonists of a “national sin”(125)  for claiming the Indian land as their own.

After being banished, Williams is left to fend for himself. The Narragansett tribe took William in and provided him with food and shelter. While he lived with the tribe he  better understood their culture, much like studying abroad. One of the first obvious culture barriers for him was language. He learned enough of the Narragansett’s language to write A Key into the Language of America where he translates common important phrases and words into English and explains different aspects of Narragansett culture. Although his ultimate goal was to convert the Indians to Christianity he intended to do it “gently.” He believed “Imposing Christianity on American Indians is… a rape of the soul.”(160) When converting the bible into the Narragansett language he uses one of their own words for “God” instead of using an English word. “In A Key, Williams’ cushions the blow of making the acquaintance of this new deity by translating ‘God’ as ‘Manit,’ as in Manitou.”(164)  While being sensitive to the Narragansett’s beliefs, he still considered their religion to be the equivalent to worshipping Satan. Williams wrote: “I durst never be an eye witness, spectator or looker on, least I should have been partaker of Satan’s inventions and worship.”(158)

By the end of his time “studying abroad” with the Narragansetts, Williams had developed a higher respect for the Indians, considering them equals. He wrote “Boast not proud English, of thy birth and blood, thy brother Indian is by birth as good.”(156) Although Williams may not have said this as a compliment to the Indians, it could still be considered an early draft of “All men are created equal.” Williams was a successful early revolutionary. He developed ideas like “the separation of church and state” and “all men are created equal” which are aspects of the American constitution, which was written more than 100 years later.

 

 

Twisted Words

          Throughout history people have done horrible things in the name of God, using the Bible to justify just about anything. The puritans were no exception. They left England to find religious freedom. This shows that their religion was a very important part of their lives. In their minds not only had God approved their leaving but they believed that he had sent them. John Cotton explains this to them in his farewell speech, “What Cotton is telling these about to be Americans is that they are God’s new chosen people.”(2) This may seem like a nice thing for him to tell them considering they’re heading off on a painfully long journey, to a place they’ve never been, leaving most of their friends and family behind, but they will take him 100 percent seriously. When cotton compares them to Old Testament Jews it’s a fitting comparison. “Like the Old Testament Jews, God has given them a new home, a promise land. And like the Old Testament Jews, God has printed an eviction notice for them to tack up on the homes of the nothing-special, just-folks folks who are squatting there.”(2) Not only did they tack up eviction notices, they burnt down entire towns.  

The Pequot Wars taking place in southern New England in the 1630’s were a bloody merciless slaughter of an entire group of people. When the English attacked the Pequot fort they began fighting with guns and swords but the close corridors were too dangerous and would lead to the loss of too many English lives. Instead it was decided that they would burn the perfectly kindled fort and block the exits. “It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stick and scent thereof.”(193) Every man woman and child was burned to death inside what was practically a huge wood stove.

Not only do the English believe that God approved of this mass murder but they believe that he assisted them. They thank God for “Burning them up in the fire of his wrath, and dunging the ground with their flesh.”(194) The English didn’t think that they had done anything wrong. They believed that because the Pequot believed in another God it was reason enough for them to die. “When a people is grown to such a height of blood and sin against God and man. . . there he hath no respect to persons, but harrows them and saws them and puts them to the sword and the most terrible death there may be.”(194) This shows how dangerous it is when people take a book that was never meant to be a legal document and use it as one.

The Bible isn’t fit to be a law book especially when there is a monarch because it justifies disobeying a king. “The Bible is full of anecdotes that prime the pump of treason.”(118) In the third chapter of the Book of Daniel, three men defy the king because he is trying to force them to follow his rules. When he tries to kill them he can’t, because God saved them. “The lesson of that story—be true to yourself, be not afraid to defy authority.”(119) The Puritans use stories like these to twist the meaning of the Bible to justify not sending the charter back to England and constructing a fort to protect Boston from English attack.

There is not only one way to interpret the Bible and no way is the correct way. You must also take in to account that there are many different translations and versions of the Bible. There were multiple versions discussed in The Wordy Shipmates used by the people in New England. Sarah Vowell describes the unpredictability well when she says, “the Bible is a big long book… within… finding justification for literal and figurative witch hunts is as simple as pretending ‘enhanced investigative techniques’ is not a synonym for torture.”(45) Today there are people whose profession relies on creative interpretations of the law. They’re lawyers and politicians. They run our country. 

The Critical Patriot

          In the book The Wordy Shipmates, author Sarah Vowell is critical of America and its history yet she is still patriotic. Some people might say that it is impossible to be both critical and patriotic, but I disagree. Blind patriotism is almost the equivalent to stupidity. It’s the people who question authority and the decisions made by those with authority who make it possible for a society to change. Throughout the book, Vowell explains and sometimes ridicules mistakes made by the people of what is and what would be the United States, but she doesn't forget to remind the reader that she still believes in her country and its people.

          Throughout the historical commentary and excerpts from primary sources there are small bits of information about Sarah Vowell’s childhood. It’s through these snapshots of her life that you understand that not only has she questioned America’s history, but she questioned her religious upbringing and eventually changed her views so that they now are different than those of her parents. Her family “attended church three times a week.”(209) Belief in God was a big part of her early life. “I was exposed, from infancy on, to so much wrench-like-me, original sin talk that I spent my entire childhood believing I was as depraved as Charles Manson...”(163) Even after all of this, she says that she doesn't believe in God. It’s this free-thinking attitude that lead to The Wordy Shipmates.

          One of the ideas that was discussed from to beginning to end was the idea of the “shining city on a hill.” This city is a prosperous place without people suffering. It’s raised above everyone else on the hill out of reach and completely fictional. Winthrop introduced this idea and Ronald Reagan used it, making it a modern term. Sarah Vowell doesn't think that we are this perfect civilization. She said, “As I write this the United States of America is still a city on a hill; and it’s still shining—because we never turn off the lights in our torture prisons. That’s how we carry out the sleep deprivation.”(72) This is a strong statement explaining that even though we may seem like the “city on a hill” from the outside, things look different from the inside. Originally the idea of the city on a hill came from Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity.” As a result this speech has become a model of American idealism. “But… it reads more like an America that might have been, an America fervently devoted to the quaint goals of working together and getting along. Of course, this America does exist. It’s called Canada.”(38) Whether this is true or not, no one wants to hear that their country isn’t doing well.

          This was shown during the 1984 presidential race that resulted in Ronald Reagan’s second term. Reagan ran using the city on a hill metaphor. His opponent, Democrat Walter Mondale, was more realistic and reminded the country that things weren’t going so well and that it would take everyone working together to heal the country he also used an idea from Winthrop’s speech: “members of the same body.” “In The U.S.A., we want to sing along with the chorus and ignore the blues. That is why the ‘city in a hill’ is the image from Winthrop’s speech that stuck and not ‘members of the same body.’”(63) Using his realistic visions Mondale only won one state, his home state Minnesota.

          Vowell discusses the idea that the same beliefs in a group of people that promote democracy may also lead to a fear of intellectualism in leaders. “In the U.S. presidential elections the American people will elect a wisecracking good ol’ boy who’s fun in a malt shop instead of a serious thinker who actually knows some of the pompous, brainy stuff that might actually get fewer people laid off or killed.”(215) At a different point in the book Vowell discusses the presidential election of 2004 and how Democrat John Kerry sounded smarter than President George W. Bush, especially during the debates. “Winthrop’s heir, John Kerry, debates Hutchinson’s great-something grandson, George W. Bush. Only in this instance it’s the Hutchinson who’s flummoxed by his opponent’s sensical answers.”(224) America elected Bush.

          Even though Vowell doesn’t believe in the “city on a hill”, she says that she wants to. “America is supposed to be better than that. No: best. I hate to admit it, but I still believe it too. Because even though my head tells me that the idea of America was chosen by God as his righteous city on a hill is ridiculous, my heart still buys into it. And I don’t even believe in God.”(71) It was the reaction of the people in New York City after the 9/11 attack in 2001 that inspired Vowell to write the book. She saw people lined up to give blood and stores without any toothpaste because all of it had been bought and donated. This reminded her of the “city on a hill.” When asked why she wrote about the Puritans, “I would never answer with the honest truth.... Namely that in the weeks after two planes crashed into two skyscrapers here on the worst day of our lives, I found comfort in the words of Winthrop.”(52)