Anabaptists are the originators of the “free church.” Separation of church and state was an unthinkable and radical notion when it was introduced by the Anabaptists. Likewise their defense of religious liberty was regarded as an invitation to anarchy. In the court records of 16th century South and Central Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, only 12,522 Anabaptists can be counted. Their numbers were never very large, yet they managed to populate 2088 towns and villages of that region! Protestantism