It has been pretty clear that throughout history, the Puritans have built a reputation strongly focused on their religion. they call themselves Christians but their actions have proved otherwise. I believe their ideas and values were too overly exaggerated that they had a great effect on their political, economic, and social development in New England.
Starting with the political affairs, the Puritans almost completely tied their political views with the church and their religon. Grave mistake, in my opinion. What their religion said and what their church commanded was the law, and all those laws mostly came from the Bible itself. In this way, the Puritans were "blinded" half the time, so to speak. The limited religous freeedom they gave left no room for moral actions and the puritans acted on what their government (the church) stated. In their politics, if you did not worship God, you were practically running for the wrong party and that could get you killed. Absolutely no religous freedom, it was all very limited.
The ideas and values the Puritans had affected their economic successes in a way where relations with the indegenious step in. The Puritans were mostly kind to the natives and they in turn helped Puritans out "foodwise". That's because of the Puritans' beliefs and worship towards God. They were kind to them in honor of God and everlasting glory in Heaven. This moved the natives to give them seeds for corn and vegetables, which in turn provided a stable economy.
In a way, the social development of New England was due to the Puritans' ideas of religon (again) because at some point, they did not tolerate some native tribes and had several massacres. What is interesting about this, however, is the fact that they showed no guilt in the attacks when written about them... "the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the praise thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud, insulting, and blasphemous an enemy". This meant that for God they were willing to do anything and He would grant them happiness. Also, their social life was influenced by their beliefs when they mention ( and emphasize) teaching their children and servants about the word of the Lord. This affected the community they lived in. They were all the same, and lived the same with very few rights.
In a nutshell, the Puritans were very very moved by their religus beliefs. it practically took over all three points: politics, economy, social development. They were not aware of the hypocrisy they faced, however, and even went so far as to call those who searched for freedom the hypocrits.
Lilia I'm gonna state my opinion about your essay. And it's contradicting but that doesn't mean I don't like you :)
ReplyDeleteWhen you stated that the Puritans were too overly exaggerated about their religion and about the way in which they ran their communities I can't help but point out that the reason they left England was to be able to run their religion as they wished to do so.
Anybody who lived among Puritans came from Europe for that purpose and therefore why should they grand religious freedom if they set forth a dangerous overseas journey to achieve this.
Also, they didn't kill you if you didn't believe in God. They exiled you. From their Puritan town. I can see how this idea seems ludicrous, especially in the modern country we live. But also you have to consider that they didn't show much hypocrisy.
They called themselves Christian and nobody can even attempt to refute that fact. They ate, thought, drank and slept with the Bible. You know? And in comparison to other religions, they pretty much kept to themselves and bothered nobody.
Of course you can tell me that the Salem Witch Trials are an example of their cruelty. But man has been proven countless times to do irrational things under certain emotions. Greed, power, and money are unacceptable reasons. But we, advanced in many ways, and shamelessly arrogant can't begin to imagine the fear that these Puritans might have felt. I already stated that they followed the Bible word for word. Therefore, living in company with someone who had personal contact with the devil might be a terrifying thought.
Now.. When we refer to hypocrisy and religion, then Catholicism takes the prize. The Crusades, the Inquisition. These were things all done in the "name of God" but used by greedy, powerful man. The amount of lives shed by both of these is ridiculous, and horrid. I'm just trying to make a point that every religion is tainted with some kind of bloody misdeed. Also anything, anything taken to an extreme has a bad cause. Think of the Muslims who might have bombed the Twin Towers (I won't get into that because that's a whole other issue that i'm not very informed on anyway haha).
I guess I'm just trying to defend the Puritans. They had good intentions, and they were of completely peaceful nature. This is just s tip, but when writing an essay like these.. You might not want to be so partial and show your opinion so much. I think AP is looking for facts you know? A little opinion is fine.. On the conclusion. And I did that too :S I was rereading my essay and I stated my opinion a lot.
That's it :)
Sorry about grammar and spelling mistakes. I was.. Inspired :P haha.
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