The Flushing Remonstrance of 1657

I hope you were like me and said to yourself, "The Flushing what ... ?" I did not know what it was either until I read the new issue of Report from the Capital, which is the newsletter from the Baptist Joint Committee that comes to my desk at the college. It contains an article about this document.

Let me give you some background. In 1657, the governor of New Netherland (New York), Peter Stuyvesant issued an order barring the community from assisting a group of Quakers that had moved into the area. The citizens opposed this order because it violated both long standing Dutch law and principles of religious tolerance.

So, on December 27, 1657 a group of 31 townspeople, including the town clerk, sent a petition to the governor protesting the order. Within the text, they said, "Wee desire therefore in this case not to judge least we be judged, neither to condemn least we be condemned, but rather let every man stand or fall to his own Master. Wee are bounde by the law to do good unto all men, especially to those of the household of faith." and " The law of love, peace and liberty in the states extending to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, as they are considered sons of Adam, which is the glory of the outward state of Holland, soe love, peace and liberty, extending to all in Christ Jesus, condemns hatred, war and bondage." and " Therefore if any of these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresse and regresse unto our Town, and houses, as God shall persuade our consciences, for we are bounde by the law of God and man to doe good unto all men and evil to noe man."

Now, Stuyvesant did not much like this. He arrested the town officials who signed the document, abolished the town government and replaced it with his own appointees, banished the clerk from the colony, forced the other signers to recant, and called for a day of prayer for the colony to repent of the sin of religious toleration.

The document now stands as a major point on the path toward religious freedom in America. As Kenneth Jackson, a professor of history at Columbria University wrote in a New York Times editorial, there are four major reasons why this 1657 protest was remarkable: 1) it articulated a fundamental right that is now held as a basic American right; 2) the authors backed up their feelings with action; 3) none of the signers was a Quaker, so they stood up for the rights of others, notably a persecuted minority; 4) the language was as striking as the sentiments they expressed.

It is important that the 350th anniversary of this document championing religious toleration took place last month. It is even more important that our nation reaffirm this position now.