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羅德島州的居民，為紀念他們的創建者羅傑威廉斯，在20世紀初興建羅傑威廉斯公園。
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羅傑‧威廉斯，羅德島州的創始人，1631年2月5日抵達波士頓
威廉斯憑著宗教寬容、脫離教會的狀態，以及民主 (注意美國是其後才建立的) 的信條，建立羅德島州。這裡成為人們躲避宗教迫害、實踐宗教信仰的避難所。浸禮教會、貴格教派、猶太教等，都移民來這裡。在美洲第一所浸禮會教堂成立後，威廉斯開始尋求不同方式的神職工作。他開始向周圍的朋友、印第安人傳道，直到他確定這些人是在他主張的信念，在宗教自由的意識下祈禱為止。他宣稱：「強迫的禮拜只會讓上帝聞到惡臭。」威廉斯的觀點在當時顯的很激進，但你能想像現在身處在一個沒有宗教自由的環境嗎？
Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island based upon principles of complete religious toleration, separation of church and state, and political democracy (values that the U.S. would later be founded upon). It became a refuge for people persecuted for their religious beliefs. Anabaptists, Quakers, and Jews settled in Rhode Island. After forming the first Baptist church in America, Williams left it to seek spirituality in different ways. He stopped preaching to his friends, the Indians, when he realized that their form of worship also fell under his principle of religious freedom. He declared, "forced worship stinks in God's nostrils." Williams's ideas were radical at the time, but can you imagine living in a place without religious freedom now?
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