A bit on the pilgrims

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All sources are from Encyclopædia Britannica.

Pilgrims

in American colonial history, settlers of Plymouth , Mass., the first permanent colony in New England (1620). Of the 102 colonists, 35 were members of the English Separatist Church (a radical faction of Puritanism) who had earlier fled to Leiden, the Netherlands, to escape persecution at home. Seeking a more abundant life along with religious freedom, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Approximately two-thirds of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, hired to protect the company's interests; these included John Alden and Myles Standish.

These first settlers, initially referred to as the Old Comers and later as the Forefathers, did not become known as the Pilgrim Fathers until two centuries after their arrival. A responsive chord was struck with the discovery of a manuscript of Gov. William Bradford referring to the “saints” who had left Holland as “pilgrimes.” At a commemorative bicentennial celebration in 1820, orator Daniel Webster used the phrase Pilgrim Fathers, and the term became common usage thereafter.

Mayflower

in American colonial history, the ship that carried the Pilgrims from England to Plymouth, Mass., where they established the first permanent New England colony in 1620. Although no detailed description of the original vessel exists, marine archaeologists estimate that the square-rigged sailing ship weighed about 180 tons and measured 90 feet (27 m) long. Some of the Pilgrims were brought from Holland on the Speedwell, a smaller vessel that accompanied the Mayflower on its initial departure from Southampton, Eng., on August 15. When the Speedwell proved unseaworthy and was twice forced to return to port, the Mayflower finally set out alone from Plymouth, Eng., a month later, after taking on some of the smaller ship's passengers and supplies. Among the Mayflower's most distinguished voyagers were William Bradford and Captain Myles Standish.

Chartered by English merchants called the London Adventurers, the Mayflower was prevented by rough seas and storms from reaching the territory that had been granted in Virginia. Instead, after a 66-day voyage, it first landed November 21 on Cape Cod at what is now Provincetown, Mass., and the day after Christmas deposited its 102 settlers nearby at the site of Plymouth. The ship remained in port until the following April, when it left for England. In 1957 the historic voyage of the Mayflower was commemorated when a replica of the original ship was built in England and sailed to Massachusetts in 53 days.

Plymouth

town (township), Plymouth county, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on Plymouth Bay, 37 miles (60 km) southeast of Boston. It was the site of the first permanent settlement by Europeans in New England, Plymouth colony, known formally as the colony of New Plymouth. The town was founded by Pilgrims (separatists from the Church of England) who, in their search for religious toleration, had immigrated first to the Netherlands and then to North America. Sailing in the Mayflower from Plymouth, England, the settlers reached the shores of Cape Cod in November 1620, and an exploring party arrived in the Plymouth area on December 21 (now celebrated as Forefathers' Day). According to tradition, the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock on December 26 and built their first fort and watchtower on Burial Hill (so called because it contains the graves of Governor William Bradford and others of the original group). Half their number died that first winter and were buried on Cole's Hill, which was later leveled and planted in grain so that the Native Americans could not judge the extent of the colony's depletion. Although never officially incorporated, the town was recognized in 1633 as the seat of Plymouth colony, which was absorbed into Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.

Its seaside location and historic associations make Plymouth an outstanding summer resort. A tourist-based economy is supplemented by light manufacturing, the production of computer software, fishing, and various services. Seafaring was the heart of the early economy of the community, and active wharves and boatyards remain. Numerous historic attractions include Plimoth Plantation (a re-creation of the original Pilgrim village), Pilgrim Hall Museum (built in 1824), Harlow Old Fort House (a building depicting 17th-century household occupations of Plymouth women), and Mayflower II, a goodwill ship built at Brixham, England, that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 53 days in 1957. Many early colonial houses in the town have been restored, including the Richard Sparrow House (1640), the Edward Winslow House (1699), and the Jabez Howland House. Plymouth Rock, first identified in 1741, became a symbol of freedom in 1774 when it was split by being dragged to Liberty Pole Square in pre-Revolutionary agitation. It now rests on its original waterfront site under a portico of granite. On a hill behind the town is the 81-foot (25-metre) National Monument to the Forefathers (Pilgrim Monument), dedicated in 1889. Plymouth includes most of the 17-square-mile (44-square-km) Myles Standish State Forest. Area 96 square miles (248 square km). Pop. (1990) 45,608; (2000) 51,701.

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Bradford, William

governor of the Plymouth colony for 30 years, who helped shape and stabilize the political institutions of the first permanent colony in New England. Bradford also left an invaluable journal chronicling the Pilgrim venture, of which he was a part.

As a boy in England, he was caught up in the fervour of the Protestant Reformation and became a dedicated member of the Separatist Church, the “left wing” of Puritanism, when only 12. Seven years later he joined a group of nonconformists who migrated to Holland (1609) in search of religious freedom. Dissatisfied with the lack of economic opportunity there, he helped organize an expedition of about 100 “Pilgrims” to the New World in 1620. Aboard ship, Bradford was one of the framers of the historic Mayflower Compact, an agreement for voluntary civil cooperation that became the foundation of the Plymouth government. The following year he was unanimously chosen as governor of the New World settlement and was re-elected 30 times, serving all but five years until 1656.

Bradford is remembered mainly for his contribution in nurturing the fledgling colony's democratic institutions, such as the franchise and town meeting, thus establishing those traditions of self-government that would set the pattern for national political development in years to come. Although he called himself a Congregationalist, he discouraged sectarian labels and made a point of welcoming all Separatist groups to New England shores. In addition, he evolved means of assimilating nonbelievers into the life of the colony.

Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–47 is a unique source of intimate detail and description of both the sea voyage and the hardships and challenges faced by the settlers.

Mayflower Compact

(Nov. 21 [Nov. 11, Old Style], 1620), document signed by 41 of the male passengers on the Mayflower prior to their landing at Plymouth, Mass. The compact resulted from the fear that some members of the company might leave the group and settle on their own. The Mayflower Compact bound the signers into a body politic for the purpose of forming a government and pledged them to abide by any laws and regulations that would later be established. The document was not a constitution but rather an adaptation of the usual church covenant to a civil situation. It became the foundation of Plymouth's government.

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JASON! makes the point that only a small part of the 102 passengers that came over to found the NE colony were Christian separatists. Yes that is true but by using this as proof they did not come to set up a Christian colony is false. The colony was set up under the guiding principles from God.

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The Christian community and the world

The relationships of Christianity
Church and state

The history of church and state

Separation of church and state

The separation of church and state as proclaimed during the French Revolution in the latter part of the 18th century was the result of Reformational strivings toward a guarantee for the freedom of the church and the natural-law ideas of the Enlightenment; it was aggravated by the social revolutionary criticism against the wealthy ecclesiastical hierarchy. The separation of church and state was also achieved during and after the American Revolution as a result of ideas arising from the struggle of the Puritans against the English episcopal system and the English throne. After the state in France had undertaken the task of creating its own political, revolutionary substitute religion in the form of a “cult of reason,” which was foreshadowed by Rousseau's discourse on “la religion civile,” a type of separation of church and state was achieved. The French state took over education and other hitherto churchly functions of a civic nature.

From the late 18th century on, two fundamental attitudes developed in matters related to the separation of church and state. The first, as implied in the Constitution of the United States, was supported by a tendency to leave to the church, set free from state supervision, a maximum freedom in the realization of its spiritual, moral, and educational tasks. In the United States, for example, a comprehensive church school and educational system has been created by the churches on the basis of this freedom, and numerous universities have been founded by churches. The separation of church and state by the French Revolution and later in the Soviet Union and the countries under the Soviet Union's sphere of influence was based upon an opposite tendency. The attempt was to totally exterminate the church and to replace it with nationalism.

I find what Britannica has to say on this topic VERY interesting. Britannica Says what I was taught and what Jefferson wrote about, the separation of the church from the state to be free from the state. It is not about the state free of the church. Now I am in no way saying I want the church running the government, heaven forbit. My belief has always been as it is stated in the above article.

church and state

the concept, largely Christian, that the religious and political powers in society are clearly distinct, though both claim the people's loyalty.

Before the advent of Christianity, separate religious and political orders were not clearly defined in most civilizations. People worshipped the gods of the particular state in which they lived, religion in such cases being but a department of the state. In the case of the Jewish people, the revealed Law of the Scripture constituted the Law of Israel. The Christian concept of the secular and the spiritual is founded on the words of Jesus: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” (Mark 12:17). Two distinct, but not altogether separate, areas of human life and activity had to be distinguished; hence, a theory of two powers came to form the basis of Christian thought and teaching from earliest times.

During the 1st century AD the Apostles, living under a pagan empire, taught respect for and obedience to the governing powers so long as such obedience did not violate the higher, or divine, law, which superseded political jurisdiction. Among the Church Fathers, who lived in a period when Christianity had become the religion of the empire, the emphasis on the primacy of the spiritual was even stronger. They insisted upon the independence of the church and the right of the church to judge the actions of the secular ruler.

With the decline of the Roman Empire in the West, civil authority fell into the hands of the only educated class that remained—the churchmen. The church, which formed the only organized institution, became the seat of temporal as well as spiritual power. In the East the civil authorities, centred in Constantinople, dominated the ecclesiastical throughout the Byzantine period.

In 800, under Charlemagne, the empire was restored in the West, and by the 10th century many secular rulers held power throughout Europe. A period of political manipulation of the church hierarchy and a general decline in clerical zeal and piety brought vigorous action from a line of reforming popes, the most famous of whom was Gregory VII.

The following centuries were marked by a dramatic struggle of emperors and kings with the popes. During the 12th and 13th centuries, papal power greatly increased. In the 13th century, however, the greatest scholar of the age, St. Thomas Aquinas, borrowing from Aristotle, aided in raising the dignity of the civil power by declaring the state a perfect society (the other perfect society was the church) and a necessary good. The medieval struggle between secular and religious power came to a climax in the 14th century with the rise of nationalism and the increased prominence of lawyers, both royalist and canon. Numerous theorists contributed to the atmosphere of controversy, and the papacy finally met with disaster, first in the removal of the popes to Avignon under French influence and second with the Great Schism attendant upon an effort to bring the popes back to Rome. Church discipline was relaxed, and church prestige fell in all parts of Europe.

The immediate effect of the Reformation was to diminish the power of the church even further. Christianity in its fractured condition could offer no effective opposition to strong rulers, who now claimed divine right for their positions as head of church and state. John Calvin's assertion of ecclesiastical supremacy in Geneva was an exception of the day. Many Lutheran churches became, in effect, arms of the state. In England Henry VIII ended ties with Rome and assumed the headship of the Church of England.

In the 17th century there were few who believed that diversity of religious belief and a church unconnected with the civil power were possible in a unified state. Common religious standards were looked upon as a principal support of the political order. When the notions of diversity of belief and toleration of dissent did start to grow, they were not generally seen to conflict with the concept of a state church. The Puritans, for example, who fled religious persecution in England in the 17th century, enforced rigid conformity to church ideas among settlers in the American colonies.

The concept of secular government as expressed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reflected both the influence of the French Enlightenment on colonial intellectuals and the special interests of the established churches in preserving their separate and distinct identities. The Baptists, notably, held the separation of church and state powers as a principle of their creed.

The great wave of migration to the United States by Roman Catholics in the 1840s prompted a reassertion of the principle of secular government by state legislatures fearing allocation of government funds to parochial educational facilities. The 20th century saw the First and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution applied with considerable strictness by the courts in the field of education. Late in the century, conservative Christian groups in the United States generated considerable controversy by seeking textbook censorship, reversal of court prohibition of school prayer, and requirements that certain Biblical doctrines be taught in contradistinction to scientific theories.

So it is as I believe, a christian principle.