This video begins with the dramatic story of Williams fleeing into the wilds of a harsh New England winter, rather than give up his belief that the state did not have the right to interfere with the individuals’ conscience. Follow the story of the founding of Rhode Island and the ensuing debate between Roger Williams and his Puritan antagonists. Williams passionately asserted that church and state should occupy separate spheres, while his Puritan opponents held to the traditional belief of the time, that survival of the church and the state depended upon a union of the two, and that the civil power was to protect the church and crush heresy. DVD 45 Minutes
