Both of these works had a religious motive: spreading Christianity to Native peoples. Williams was famously banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his advocacy of separation of church and state and led the establishment of the Rhode Island colony. He wrote that state-compelled religion was fundamentally improper, and he essentially believed that only voluntary acceptance of Christianity would be meaningful. Christenings Make Not Christians was essentially an argument that Native peoples were no more "heathen" than many other ostensibly "civilized" people around the world. The way to convert Native Americans to Christianity was, Williams argued, through persuasion rather than coercion. It was to convince Native peoples of the relevance of the Gospel rather than forced christenings and other methods that Williams attributed to Spanish Catholic missionaries (but that were taking root among Puritans as well.) A Key into the Language of America is essentially a brief guide to the various Algonquian languages spoken by the peoples inhabiting what is today known as New England. The importance of learning these languages, Williams argued, was obvious to anyone interested in converting Native peoples to Christianity. In the midst of this list of important Native phrases, he relates an example in which he learned to speak to a group of people in "an Island of the Wildest in our parts," after which they begged him to return as soon as possible so that he could bring "more newes of this God." Both of these works, then, are testaments to the idea that Christianity was best spread through persuasion. This was as true of Native peoples as it was of Englishmen.
https://books.google.com/books?id=9qPjThUP4CIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0
https://books.google.com/books?id=j7AyAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Christenings+make+not+Christians&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAjdPT493mAhVbZc0KHcsPAdgQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/god-government-and-roger-williams-big-idea-6291280/
It is impossible to separate the writings of Roger Williams from religious themes, as everything he wrote (and all of his actions) was about the human conscience and its relationship with God. Roger Williams was a Dissenter; he left the Church of England in 1631 because he believed it corrupted the teachings of Jesus. He sailed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and joined the the other Puritans in the hopes that the new colony would strip away adherence to the church/state hierarchy and worship in the purity of conscience-driven Christianity. However, he soon found himself at odds with the leaders of the colony, particularly on the matters of following one’s conscience as a direct response to God, the separation of church and state, and, in particular, the ungodly treatment of Native peoples and the taking of their land.
In the winter of 1636, Roger Williams left Plymouth, having been banished from the colony, and he found refuge with the Wampanoag Tribe as he recovered from illness. He was respected and trusted by the tribe, and vice versa. In the spring, he then bought land from the Narragansett Indians to establish Providence Plantations, as well as the Baptist Church, based on freedom of conscience and actions that embodied it.
In 1643, he went to London to get a charter for the new colony, which also included Newport and its surrounding area on Rhode Island. While on board the ship, he wrote From a Key Into the Language of America. In it, he extolls many of the virtues of Native culture that mirror the teachings of Jesus.
In 1645, Williams wrote the tract “Christening Make Not a Christian." He says a Christian is a person who follows the teachings of the word of God through their conscience and treats others in the ways Jesus would treat them.
As a Puritan, Roger Williams incorporates his faith into his works. In Christenings Make Not Christians, Williams criticizes the use of the word "heathens" when referring to Indians. He talks about how Englishmen were mistreating Indians under the guise of converting them. Because of their lack of genuine love for the Indians, Williams argues that they are no better than the supposed heathens. The title of the book implies that participating in the rites of Christianity does not make one a Christian; instead, obeying the Bible and expressing Christlike love to all types of people makes one a Christian.
In A Key into the Language of America, Williams is more focused on language, particularly with the Narragansett Indians. Through his encounters with the Narragansett Indians, Williams learned that in order to learn more about America, it is important to interact with the original inhabitants. To achieve this, Williams called on God to give him "a painful Patient spirit to lodge with them, in their filthy smoke holes (even while I lived at Plymouth and Salem) to gain their tongue.” This led to long-lasting relationships with the natives. They appreciated his Christlike compassion, which set him apart from other settlers at the time.
http://www.findingrogerwilliams.com/essays/an-essay-on-a-key-into-the-language-of-america
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