There is a lot of talk today, primarily by fundamentalist Protestant Christians, about the persecution of Christians in the United States and their projections about where this trend is headed. With this in mind, let’s go back in history and look at the persecution of Christians in colonial America, at a time and place where there was a Protestant theocracy.
The year was 1637. The place was the British colony of Massachusetts. Standing before the forty members of the Massachusetts General Court and eight ministers was a 46-year-old woman, pregnant for the sixteenth time with twelve living children (today’s quiver-full advocates would have been proud of her). She was a devote member of the Congregationalist Church and she was on trial for her Christian beliefs. According to the Governor:
“You have spoken of diverse things, as we have been informed, very prejudicial to the honor of the churches and ministers thereof. And you have maintained a meeting and an assembly in your house that hath been condemned by the general assembly as a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of God nor fitting for your sex.”
The woman on trial was Anne Hutchinson, born in England in 1591 to an Anglican minister and school teacher. She received a far better education than most girls of this era. She married William Hutchinson and the couple became followers of the preacher John Cotton in Boston, Lincolnshire. When Cotton was forced to leave England and migrate to New England in 1633, the couple and their 11 children followed him to Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1635, Anne Hutchinson began holding open meetings in her home in which the finer points of scripture from the Bible would be discussed. She attempted to guide the attendees—initially women, but later the gatherings included their husbands—into a deeper, finer, and more complete understanding of the Bible and John Cottton’s sermons.
To understand why she was brought before the court, we must look at the nature of theocracy in general and the Puritan theocracy of colonial Massachusetts in particular. A theocracy is, of course, a form of government based on a religion. Notice that this is not religion in general, but upon a specific religion. While the colonial theocracy can be considered a Christian theocracy, it was not based on Christianity in an all-inclusive sense, but rather on a particular type of Christianity known as Puritanism.
In general, theocracies based upon monotheism are not tolerant forms of government. Deviance in belief, behavior, dress, language, sexual orientation, and sometimes even skin color, is seen as a threat to society, to the god’s plan for the people as interpreted by the leaders.
The government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony could be described as a kind of representational democracy in that its governors were elected by freemen. However, to be a freeman, one had to be examined for their religious views and formally admitted to their church. As a result, the colonial leadership had little tolerance for other religious views—meaning Christian views—such as those of the Anglicans, Quakers, and Baptists. Native Americans, as non-Christians, were not seen as having any religion.
Seventeenth century Puritanism included the important belief that God, before the creation of the universe, had already selected those who would receive his grace and be able to enter into heaven after death. It was possible for people to discover, prior to death, if they had been selected. The Puritans preached a covenant of grace.
Within a Puritan theocracy, a society in which women were to be inferior to men and in which conformity to established beliefs was critical, Anne Hutchinson was seen as dangerous. First, as a woman she seemed to be preaching, to be usurping the male role. Leading a scripture meeting while female was viewed as indecent, improper, and immoral.
One of the concerns raised by the Puritans was Antinomianism: a doctrine which indicated that only God’s grace was needed for salvation and therefore people were under no obligation to obey the laws of religious leaders.
And finally, there was blasphemy. In court, Anne Hutchinson indicated that God spoke to her. Cormac O’Brien, in his book The Forgotten History of America, writes:
“No one communicated directly with the deity, not even ministers (and certainly not a woman!). Any claim to do so was blasphemy.”
As a result, Anne Hutchinson was banished from the colony as a heretic. Then following the civil trial, the convicted heretic faced a church trial. After two days of testimony, she was excommunicated. The Reverend John Wilson described Anne Hutchinson this way:
“I look at her as a dangerous instrument of the devil, raised up by Satan amongst us to raise up divisions and contentions, and to take away hearts affections from another.”
Her final words to the church:
“Better to be cast out of the Church than to deny Christ.”
In May 1638, following her civil and church trials, Anne Hutchinson miscarried. To many this was a clear sign that she was a sinful, and perhaps evil woman. It was seen by many as a sign of God’s displeasure.
While the invasion of what was called New England by British colonists known as Pilgrims and Puritans is sometimes hailed as the beginning of religious freedom, the Puritans’ “city upon a hill” theocracy did not tolerate religious freedom. There are some who consider Anne Hutchinson as the Mother of American Religious Freedom, but yet she was rigid and inflexible in her religious beliefs,