The “separation of church and state” has been a continuing issue in
our American history. Most often it comes up with regard to our public
schools. Over the years, these issues have ended up in the courts, with
things being decided in the favor of keeping religion out of the
schools, but the issues never really go away. Still prayers are said
before football games, at graduations, and even as late as 2004 the
school board of Dover, Pennsylvania tried to introduce Creationism into
the high school biology classroom in the form of Intelligent Design.
I’m not surprised that the effort continues. The United States is one
of the most religious nations on earth with hundreds of different
religions and Christian denominations. What does surprise me, however,
is that the effort is usually led by evangelical Christians. The reason
this surprises me is that evangelical Christians were in large part the
driving force behind the First Amendment clause being written into the
Constitution.
We don’t have a state religion in the United States, but that wasn’t
always the case. During colonial America, many colonies did have
official religions that were supported by the state and tax money. In
the north, the Congregationalist church (formerly the Puritans) was the
official church of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, in the
south, the Anglican Church was the official church of Maryland,
Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. There certainly were states
without an official religion, most notably Rhode Island which was
established on the principle of freedom of religion. But in many of
these colonies, evangelicals found themselves at odds with the
established churches. One person who is of particular importance to the
idea of “separation of church and state” is Jeremiah Moore. Taking up
the cause of Moore and many other Baptist preachers who had been
arrested for preaching without a license in Virginia, Thomas Jefferson
would introduce a bill into the legislature that would eventually be
passed and sever the tie between the Anglican Church and the state of
Virginia. He would then go on, with others, to insist on the addition of
a clause in the Constitution that ensured freedom of religion.
Evangelicalism is characterized by the belief that you can have a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Although Evangelicalism didn’t really begin as a movement until the
1730s, the idea that you could have this communion with God through the
Holy Spirit did exist. One woman who believed and taught this idea is
Anne Hutchinson.
Anne Hutchinson, born Anne Marbury in 1591, was the daughter of an
Anglican minister in England. Her father had strong Puritan leanings and
was censured by the church on more than one occasion. He spent time in
prison for his preaching and for a time was under house arrest. He was a
strong believer in education and in a time that it was unusual for
women to be educated, he taught both his boys and his girls. At the age
of 21, not long after her father’s death, Anne married William
Hutchinson. Together they began to follow the teachings of John Cotton
and John Wheelwright. These two ministers preached similar messages
emphasizing grace and a “moment of conversion”, and deemphasizing a
salvation based on works.
By 1633, Cotton’s message, which didn’t strictly adhere to the
Anglican Church doctrines, was attracting attention from the church and
he found it necessary to flee to America. After a time, Anne felt the
Spirit leading her to follow Cotton to Massachusetts and she and
William, with their 11 children, sailed for Boston in 1634. They
flourished in Boston. William was successful in trade, and Anne found a
place in the community helping others and attending childbirths where
women often congregated. At some point, she began to share with these
women the message she had learned from Cotton and Wheelwright.
Men would often congregate to discuss recent sermons and theology,
but there were no such meetings for women. As more and more women became
interested in what Anne had to say, she began to have meetings for them
in her home. This eventually led to meetings twice a week attended by
as many as 80 people. They would review the sermon, discuss it’s
meaning, and often disagree with it. Anne began to espouse her own
teachings. Principle among them was the “covenant of grace” as opposed
to the “covenant of works.” She emphasized “an intuition of the Spirit”
or “a personal revelation” as the true evidence of a person’s salvation
rather than their good behavior.
In 1636, it became clear to officials in Boston, that many people
were developing opinions that weren’t considered orthodox within the
church. The fault for this was laid at the feet of Cotton, Hutchinson,
and Wheelwright (who had recently arrived from England.) A number of
meetings were held, particularly with Cotton, to try to sort out what
his specific teachings were and where they differed from the official
church doctrine. (This controversy still exists today between different
denominations, with some emphasizing that works have nothing to do with
the state of your salvation, and others emphasizing that your faith is
not assured unless there is evidence of the fruit of good works.) By
late 1636, things came to a head and Hutchinson and her followers were
accused of heresy.
Anne was accused of antinomianism and familism. Antinomianism
literally means “against the law” and Familism was a sect that
emphasized a feeling of divine love. Both of these ideas were considered
to be dangerous for fear that they could lead to immoral behavior.
Neither accusation is really accurate. While Anne believed that she and
others like her, received salvation purely by the grace of God and that
this could be experienced and felt by the believer, thereby providing
“proof” to the individual, they were not immoral people. By all
accounts, Anne was highly respected in the community and very active in
helping people, in spite of having a large family of her own.
By 1637 when Anne came to trial, her primary accuser John Winthrop had
become governor of Massachusetts. He feared that if the people in the
colony did not remain “pure” that God would not protect them. It was a
difficult life for the settlers. Just before Anne’s trial, the settlers
had engaged in a war with the Pequot Indians. Many Puritans believed
that Indian attacks, poor crops, natural disasters, or any misfortune
was God’s judgment for sin. Another aspect of this trial was that Anne
had risen to a place in the community that Winthrop did not deem
“fitting to her sex.” Men had begun to attend Anne’s meetings. In fact,
one of her admirers was the previous governor of the colony, Sir Henry
Vane. It was not considered proper for a woman to teach men. Cotton, in
an attempt to distance himself from Anne, even accused her of promoting
licentious behavior by having men and women together in her home for
these meetings. The entire situation was filled with politics, fear of
judgment, and probably no small amount of misogyny.
On the first day of the trial, Anne met their arguments point for
point, probably frustrating them greatly. However, on the second day,
Anne gave them her message. She told them that she was assured of her
salvation because of a “personal revelation.” The court deemed her a
heretic and sentenced her to banishment from Massachusetts. She remained
under house arrest throughout the winter in the home of Joseph Weld in
Roxbury. It was a severe winter in which she was separated from her
family.
In the spring, a church trial was held, in which Anne was
excommunicated. During the winter, William and some other men made plans
to leave Massachusetts. Twenty-three men would ultimately sign what
became known as the Portsmouth Compact. They purchased Aquiddeck Island
from the Narragansetts and formed a new settlement. This was near
Providence Plantations which had been established by Roger Williams with
specific provisions for freedom of religion.
At some point after the death of William in 1641, Anne and some of
her family moved to a place in eastern New York. Here she and all but
one of her children and other family members were massacred by the
Indians. She had had good relationships with the Narragansett Indians in
Portsmouth and may not have realized how tense the relationships were
in her new home. Her daughter Susanna was away from the house and by
some accounts was captured and held for several years before being
ransomed by to her remaining family in Boston.
As with many historical figures Anne’s life is viewed through many
lenses. She is seen as a heretic, a libertine, and a feminist, or as a
woman who simply followed the dictates of her conscience. She definitely
stepped out of the generally accepted role of women in Puritan society.
Ultimately, she was a victim of both secular and church politics, but
she was also a woman who insisted on her religious liberty.
Resources
Life of Anne Hutchinson: With a Sketch of the Antinomian Controversy in Massachusetts by George E. Ellis
God In America – PBS special
