Thomas Helwys

[Picaro]

A little history on the founders of the Baptist denomination, and their importance to the principle of the separation of church and state, and their key role in the Constitutional protections after the Revolutionary War including in the Bill of Rights. The evangelical denominations of the First Great Awakening and Second Great Awakening were key to Thomas Jefferson's elections to the Vice Presidency and Presidency.

Thomas Helwys (c. 1575 — c. 1616), an Englishman, was one of the joint founders, with John Smyth of the Baptist denomination.

In the early seventeenth century, Helwys was principal formulator of that distinctively Baptist request: that the church and the state be kept separate in matters of law, so that individuals might have a freedom of religious conscience. Thomas Helwys was an advocate of religious liberty at a time when to hold to such views could be dangerous. He died in prison as a consequence of the religious persecution of Protestant dissenters under King James I.

Thomas Helwys - Religion-wiki

A small essay on the historical context of Helwys in English history:

http://www.georgetowncollege.edu/cdal/files/2011/06/Mary_Nelson.pdf

 

[Delta4Embassy]

41 when he died? Eek. Hate hearing about people who died younger than I am, talk about 'borrowed time' thoughts.

Nice post though nonetheless, nice to learn a bit about those we owe so much to.