Pastor's Op-Ed Published in Courier Journal

Where did they get that "picture" of Roger Williams? He is dressed in late 18th century clothes and wearing a wig! This is the least authentic representation of RW ever. Also, 17th century Baptists were not pacifists: they stocked Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army. Don't confuse them with the Anabaptists, who were pacifists, wouldn't serve on juries, opposed the death penalty, and refused to admit in their churches anyone who was a public official. Roger Williams himself served as a militia captain in King Philip's War, and the other militia captain with him was Arthur Fenner, a Baptist who served in Cromwell's army, as did William Wickenden, the 4th pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence.