In a time where a person’s survival depended on their own religious beliefs; it was best to be with the masses than against, this proved no truer than in Puritan English colonies. As a means to practice their own religious beliefs, which consisted of an individual’s own interpretation of the Bible and; the Puritans set out to the new world to escape popery. In a turn of events, the Puritans infringed against their own religious beliefs, when it was in their best interest, by excommunicating Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Anne Hutchinson was a member of the Puritan church in Massachusetts. She preached that rather than a person’s inner state of grace being their way into heaven, that a member of church’s fate was predetermined to either …show more content…
During trail, John Winthrop accuses Anne Hutchinson of breaking “… the fifth commandment.” (Foner, p. 36) (Trial At The Court At Newton. 1637) The fifth commandment makes reference to one of the ten commandments. The fifth commandment states, Honor thy father and thy mother. In this context, the Governor Winthrop, accuses Anne of not “honoring” the lord, her father, because of her preaching. In a sense, the Governor, is branding Anne and her preaching as sacrilegious and condemning her and her followers in front of the public. The Governor goes on to say that “… your opinions being known to be different from the word of god may seduce many simple souls that resort unto you.” (Foner, p. 37) (Trial At The Court At Newton. 1637) In many ways, the John Winthrop paints Anne as the devil who is at risk of damning not only herself but the society of her town as a whole. Similar to the snake who seduced Adam and Eve to the apple, Anne is accused of seducing members of her town through her own interpretation of the bible. Which lead to her being banned, along with her followers, from their town. The separation of church and state came into question, when another protestant from Massachusetts preached that government should not mistreat members of the community due to their