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This week in Christian history: Church of the Holy Sepulchre destroyed, Mass. bans Quakers

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Twitter

Massachusetts bans Quakers – Oct. 14, 1656

Old engraved illustration of Governor John Winthrop blessing soldiers holding Samuel Gorton for heresy, Massachusetts (1643).
Old engraved illustration of Governor John Winthrop blessing soldiers holding Samuel Gorton for heresy, Massachusetts (1643). | Getty Images/mikroman6

This week marks the anniversary of when Puritan Massachusetts began passing a series of laws that prohibited the Religious Society of Friends, more commonly known as the Quakers.

The General Court for the Puritan colony, known for valuing religious conformity, passed a measure that labeled Quakers “a cursed sect of heretics” and ordered the immediate exile or imprisonment of any Quakers who came to Massachusetts.

“And it is ordered, if any person shall knowingly import into any harbor of this jurisdiction, any Quakers' books or writings, concerning their devilish opinions, shall pay for such book or writing, being legally proved against him or them the sum of five pounds,” stated the Act.

“And it is hereby further enacted, that if any persons within this colony shall take upon them to defend the heretical opinions of the Quakers, or any of their books or papers, shall be fined for the first time forty shillings.”

The law would later be repealed, but not after multiple Quakers were either deported or even executed for setting foot in Massachusetts.

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