Harry Emerson Fosdick once said that: “A constructive faith is the supreme organizer of life.” Faith, in certain organized religions, is not always constructive nor is it always an organizing influence. In this great country it was not easy, in fact, it was a very difficult struggle to separate church and state by eliminating mandatory support of state religions. That fight was longer and more intense in New England than in any other section of the country. There was tax collected by the state that went directly to support the Pilgrims and the Puritans in Massachusetts. Every citizen of the state paid the tax whether associated with the church or not.
The Pilgrims and the Puritans in Massachusetts had simply continued a policy common in England. Although many who sought religious liberty had immigrated to those colonies, the Pilgrims and Puritans were opposed, generally speaking, to extending religious freedom to others. Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were not the only leaders driven from Massachusetts for proclaiming unorthodox beliefs. During most of the seventeenth century, nonconformists in Massachusetts and Connecticut suffered from intolerant legislation. In that section of America, Anglicans were banished and Baptists were fined and imprisoned. Quaker missionaries—women as well as men—were not only banished, fined, and imprisoned, but some were tortured, and a few were executed. According to one oppressive law applying to the two colonies, Quaker preachers were to have their tongues bored through with a hot iron. During the early decades of settlement, colonists in most of the New England provinces could neither vote nor hold office unless they were members of the Congregational Church.
It wasn’t until the 1680s, when England imposed toleration on Congregationalists, that Trinitarian Protestants could finally worship in public. Nevertheless, throughout much of the eighteenth century, non-Congregationalists in most of New England had to pay taxes to support the Congregational Church. Many were imprisoned in Massachusetts for failing to comply with complicated ecclesiastical laws.
When Thomas Jefferson founded the patriotic position that men were endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, many Americans insisted that one of the rights included freedom to worship God in peace. That provision was soon extended in state constitutions and in the Bill of Rights. That soon followed by court action, and finally religious liberty was law. Public support of religion ended shortly after that.
Elias Smith wrote; “the increase of civil and religious liberty in this country, since the Declaration of Independence, … will be the wonder of all future generations.” But the war of words and the contest of opinions had led to more divisions within congregations and to the formation of more religious communities there than in any other region. America was unique in the early nineteenth century. Religious liberty was becoming a reality, and the beliefs of many were being brought into harmony with teachings of the restored gospel. Numerous new churches prospered, and vast numbers sought for religious truth. Truly, the field was white, ready to harvest. During this American reformation, many beliefs were brought into harmony with the teachings of the still-future restored Church. These changes in belief would later make it easier for many to receive the fulness of the gospel. In this land of liberty and pluralism, something unparalleled in the history of mankind occurred, as Americans joined churches of their choice in unprecedented numbers. A Bishop Harry Jackson made a revelatory statement just prior to the occurrence of the restoration “I think we are going to have a restoration of Christian values, heavenly oriented families, that are anchored in day to day life but they bear the marks, the signs of heaven.”
Because of the above historic occurrences the time was indeed ripe, for the restoration of truth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness, and God chose a young boy in that same area to lead the event. He was a simple farm boy, who just desired to know the truth, his name was Joseph Smith Jr.