[darrellmaurina]

TYPO: I wrote that “It's true that the first president of Harvard had been forced to resign his position due to denial of infant baptism about a half-decade before the organization of First Baptist Church.” I meant to say “about a decade.” The “half-decade” refers to the date of the death of Henry Dunster, not the date when he left Harvard under pressure.

The reason he left the Harvard presidency was that he refused to have his children baptized after becoming convinced of Baptist views, which at that point were being tolerated under Oliver Cromwell in England but were still unacceptable in Massachusetts. Dunster left Massachusetts and accepted a pastorate in one of the churches of the then-separate Plymouth Colony.

Being forced to leave Boston and move to a more friendly colony is not exactly what I'd call serious persecution, especially compared to what was happening in Europe at the same time.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Great stuff. Thanks for the education.