The First Baptist Church in America, also known as the First Baptist Meetinghouse, is the oldest Baptist church in the United States. The Church was founded in 1638 by Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island. The present church building was erected between 1774 and 1775 and held its first meetings in May 1775. It is located at 75 North Main Street in Providence's College Hill neighborhood. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.
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First Baptist Church in America in the context of Separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular state (with or without legally explicit church-state separation) and to disestablishment, the changing of an existing, formal relationship between the church and the state. The concept originated among early Baptists in America. In 1644, Roger Williams, a Baptist minister and founder of the state of Rhode Island and the First Baptist Church in America, was the first public official to call for "a wall or hedge of separation" between "the wilderness of the world" and "the garden of the church." Although the concept is older, the exact phrase "separation of church and state" is derived from "wall of separation between Church & State," a term coined by Thomas Jefferson in his 1802 letter to members of the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut. The concept was promoted by Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke.
In a society, the degree of political separation between the church and the civil state is determined by the legal structures and prevalent legal views that define the proper relationship between organized religion and the state. The arm's length principle proposes a relationship wherein the two political entities interact as organizations each independent of the authority of the other. The strict application of the secular principle of laïcité is used in France. In contrast, societies such as Denmark and England maintain the constitutional recognition of an official state church; similarly, other countries have a policy of accommodationism, with religious symbols being present in the public square.
First Baptist Church in America in the context of Roger Williams
Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island. He was a staunch advocate for religious liberty, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the Native Americans.
Initially a Puritan minister, his beliefs evolved and he questioned the authority of the Puritan church in enforcing religious conformity. He was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and he established Providence Plantations in 1636 as a refuge offering what he termed "liberty of conscience" making Rhode Island the first government in the Western world to guarantee religious freedom in its founding charter. His ideas on religious tolerance and civil government directly influenced the principles later enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. He briefly became a Baptist, and in 1638 he founded the First Baptist Church in America in Providence. He then moved beyond organized religion, becoming a "seeker" who did not identify with any specific church. Williams studied the language of the New England Native Americans and published the first book-length study of it in English.
First Baptist Church in America in the context of American Baptist Churches USA
The American Baptist Churches USA, abbreviated as ABCUSA, is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States, and part of the Baptist tradition. The American Baptist Churches is the reorganization from 1907 of the Triennial Convention, established in 1814. It is rooted in the early English and Welsh Baptist settlers in America, especially with the foundation of Rhode Island Colony, tracing its history to the First Baptist Church in America, established by Roger Williams in 1638. The Triennial Convention became the Northern Baptist Convention in 1907, which was renamed as the American Baptist Convention from 1950 to 1972. The ABCUSA headquarters is located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The American Baptist Churches cooperates with the Baptist World Alliance, the Baptist Joint Committee, and the World Council of Churches.
Although the denomination is considered mainline Protestant, one of the Seven Sisters of American Protestantism, varying theological and missional emphases may be found among its congregations, including evangelical, conservative, and charismatic orientations. In 2025, Pew Research Center published the Religious Landscape Survey, estimating that 1 percent of US adults, or 2.6 million people, self-identify as adherents of the American Baptist Churches USA.