The James Logan Courier

By Tish Wells
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

Somewhere out there, there's a version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" where clerk Bob Cratchit takes an axe to his employer, Scrooge, steals his cashbox and escapes to the Bahamas without his family. The story has been reinterpreted time and time again in stage, screen, animation, book and probably ancient Greek.

Now Batman (aka the Dark Knight) meets Charles Dickens in "Batman: Noel" a graphic novel by artist Lee Bermejo. (For those who read comics only irregularly, a graphic novel is a glossy-papered comic published as a book, dust cover and all.)

The original story penned in 1843 by Charles Dickens was a hit. The story of a stingy old miser who is visited by three ghosts who change his ways, making him into a generous open-handed philanthropist, is a Christmas-time staple.

From wikipedia:
Roger Williams (c. 1603 – between January and March 1683) was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America, the First Baptist Church of Providence. He was a student of Native American languages and an advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans.

Roger Williams was born in London about 1603. The record of his birth was destroyed in the Great London Fire of 1666 when St. Sepulchre's Church was burned. At age 12 he had a conversion experience of which his father disapproved. His father, James Williams (1562–1620), was a merchant tailor in Smithfield, England. His mother was Alice Pemberton (1564–1634).

Read "A Plea for Religious Liberty," by Roger Williams, free from constitution.org.