Sunday, January 12, 2014

A Brief History About Richard Overton

By Marissa Velazquez


It was during the first English civil war which took place at around 1599 that Richard Overton was born. He was from England and studied at Cambridge. In his early childhood, he did some acting and later when he joined the college of queen, he performed as playwright. He lived for about sixty five years but his life was quite fascinating.

He along with three others had some great ideas that they felt would revolutionize the world if properly implemented. The four were also opposed to the monarchy terming it as archaic. They wanted it to be abolished and it was then that they formed a group which they called the levelers. The group insisted that court trials should include the jury. The monarchy had placed censorship on the media and all forms of written material. Overton however still printed pamphlets in a bid to end the monarchy.

Overton was a Christian but he felt the need to belong to a certain church but he was not quite decided on which one it would be. The pamphlets he had distributed contained details about how different churches held their spiritual affairs. Some of his articles also had some negative information about the Catholic Church and the Church of England. Apart from the articles, he also held debates about church reforms.

This man studied the bible widely so as to gather more information about Christianity. He went on to serve God and finally found a church called the General Baptism church in which he became dedicated. This church had teachings that had some contradictions and these teachings also were different from what other churches taught.

Most churches taught that after death, the soul did not die along with the body but it just departed from the body. For Richard, this was not the case because he believed that both the body and soul died and only resurrected on judgment day. The church greatly disapproved of his views because they were the exact opposite of what they had been teaching to the congregation.

Overton also believed that all human beings are equal to each other and no one should receive any special treatment just because they hold some position. He published various articles and these articles were making him popular among the people of his nation. The government was aware that he was gathering more and more supporters each day and begun getting concerned. They were not happy with him and wondered why he opposed many things. Eventually Richard got arrested and jailed twice.

He avoided getting arrested again by fleeing to Flanders where he continued being liked because of his good personality. He treated his neighbors as equals since he was a man who had always been fighting for equality among all. He did not discriminate on anyone regardless of their personal background. This was a man who could be described as kind, gentle and generous.

Richard Overton was a good mathematician and also performed very well in English. The government was not very fond of him but his fellow citizens really liked him. He was a funny man who loved to read his own articles because they were funny to him as well.




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