The Puritans were under this shadow. Sometimes they enjoyed the king's tolerance, but finally they were hounded and killed until they fled to New England. The king and the bishops of England were delighted to get rid of them. God used this to open the way to America. But, in New England the Puritans set up a sacral Reformed model all over again. Roger Williams was part of this community. Roger Williams felt that men should be free to reject the Gospel and still live a normal life with freedoms provided. The Puritans threw him out of their community in the dead of winter for his preaching. Sacralism was back.
Roger Williams went north to Rhode Island, and there he set up a community in which freedom of religion was guaranteed. The first truly pluralist society in human history, in which freedom was enforced by rule of law, was set up by Fundamental Baptist. The history books have completely destroyed this fact. Now, you know the rest of the story.
It was the Baptist colony in Rhode Island which inspired many of the founding fathers, for though many of them were Deists and not really born again Christians, they could see the blessing of pluralism in matters of state affairs, and the Baptists showed that the state COULD stay out of religious affairs and men would be happy and orderly.
The US Constitution and Bill of Rights are the direct product of Baptists in the days of the early colonies who insisted that men must be free to choose.
Today, it is ironic that Jerry Falwell , Dr. James Dobson, and Pat Robertson are calling for a new sacralism, and the ACLU is calling for pluralism. We've come a long way baby. The day Jerry Falwell rules America with his profane sacral counterfeit is the day the old terror will again rule the lives of Bible believers.