Wow. Very interesting backstory from an RI FReeper. Really ironic the state was "founded by a bunch of Protestant zealots who couldn’t get along", as I believe the current demographics show RI has the highest percentage of Catholics in all 50 states (mainly due to RI also having a huge percentage of its population with Italian ancestry, and of course many of those "Catholics" are non-practicing and secular)
Nevertheless, that would be one of the MANY reasons why the colonial era RI founders would appalled at what's currently going on in the state.
What’s interesting about the colonies and early states were that they ALL had a distinct religious flavor: VA Anglican, RI Baptist, MA Puritan, PA Quaker, NC Presbyterian.
They all believed in “separation of church from the FEDERAL state,” not the state itself.
In addition to Italians, Rhode Island also has a large Portuguese (including Azorean) population, although I believe not as large as in the New Bedford area of Massachusetts.