A Lively Experiment
A Multireligious Historical Overview of Rhode Island
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| By the late 1700s the Baptist faith was undergoing a general revival called the Great Awakening and the First Baptist Church in America called its first minister, The Reverend James Manning. Manning also became the first president and professor of the new college in Providence, then called Rhode Island College, now Brown University, which was chartered in 1764. Although it was Baptist-affiliated, the college was atypical in that it provided for an ecumenical Corporation, including Baptists as well as Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Anglicans, Quakers, and a number of unallotted seats. Also, like Rhode Island among states, it was unusual among colleges in asserting from its inception the right to freedom of conscience. The College charter states:
"Whereas institutions for liberal education are highly beneficial to society by forming the rising generation to virtue, knowledge, and useful literature, and thus preserving in the community a succession of men duly qualified for discharging the offices of life with usefulness and reputation, . . . it is hereby enacted and declared that into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests: But, on the contrary, all the members hereof shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute, and uninterrupted liberty of conscience: . . . although all religious controversies may be studied freely, examined, and explained . . . And above all, a constant regard be paid to, and effectual care taken of, the morals of the College." |
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