Claim: Providence, Rhode Island was only founded by an atheistic exile.
Evidence: Providence was founded by Roger Williams , a religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Roger Williams -LRB- c. 21 December 1603 -- between 27 January and 15 March 1683 -RRB- was a Puritan , an English Reformed theologian , and later a Reformed Baptist who was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the colony of Massachusetts because local officials thought that he was spreading `` new and dangerous ideas '' to his congregants.
Williams fled the Massachusetts colony under the threat of impending arrest and shipment to an English prison ; he began the settlement of Providence Plantation in 1636 as a refuge offering freedom of conscience.