Today in Salem: The Governor sees a published petition signed by appalled ministers, imploring him to ignore any testimony about specters. This time, though, it’s not the Puritans who are weighing in. It’s the Baptists, just as concerned that innocent people may be hanged.
The insulted Governor – who never asked for their opinion – issues an arrest warrant for the minister who wrote the “seditious and scandalous“ paper and throws him in jail, setting bail at £200 (about 3 years salary for Salem’s own Rev Parris). The Baptists can mind their own business.
LEARN MORE: There were Baptists, not just Puritans?
Yes! The Puritans separated from England because they thought the church needed to be purified (hence the word “Puritan”). But some believed they weren’t pure enough. In particular, they believed that only people who could actually say they had faith in God (i.e. no babies) should be baptized (hence the word “Baptist”).
The early Baptists also thought the government was too involved with the church, and that people should be able to define their own religious practices apart from the law. Those early Baptist beliefs were the beginning of the very first amendment to the U.S. constitution, written a hundred years later: the separation of church and state.
Tomorrow in Salem: AFFLICTED: Susannah Sheldon, bound and stuck