Puritans

[[File:A_fair_Puritan.png|thumb|right|165px|Puritan sextravaganza (her ''naked wrists'' are showing!).]]{{christianity}}{{Sources needed}}
{{cquote|What may be forgotten today, however, is the Puritan rejection of democracy in favor of rule by biblical law. "The Puritans," according to Thomas Ice, fused "church and state into a theocratic government." |||(Dominion Theology, Blessing or Curse, H. Wayne House and Thomas Ice, 1988, p. 95) <ref>, Quoted in [[Theocracy Watch]] at [http://www.theocracywatch.org/human_sexuality.htm The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party]</ref>}}

'''Puritans''' was a term used from the late 16<sup>th</sup> to the late 17<sup>th</sup> century for various sects and creeds of zealous [[English]] [[Protestant]]s who adhered very enthusiastically to "Reformed" or [[Calvinist]] [[theology]]. Puritans are best known for their influence during the [[English Civil War]] era (1640s) and republican proto-[[dictatorship]] of Oliver Cromwell (1650s)<ref>[http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cromwell_england.htm Life in England under Oliver Cromwell]</ref> and for emigrating in large numbers to [[New England]], there to play a crucial role in the foundation of what later became the [[United States]] and its national culture.

Notable Puritans include Cromwell, the poet John Milton, who wrote ''Paradise Lost'', and the author John Bunyan who wrote ''Pilgrim's Progress''.

Among the most infamous incidents associated with the Puritans was a [[moral panic]] over [[witchcraft]] in 1692-1693, leading to the [[Salem Witch Trials]].<ref>Carol F. Karlsen. 1998. ''The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England''. W. W. Norton. ISBN 9780393317596.</ref>

==Beliefs==
Puritans believed that the [[Roman Catholic Church]] had polluted True [[Christianity]] and that the [[Protestant Reformation]] in Europe had not gone far enough in rejecting the vestiges of Catholicism.<ref>[https://www3.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/puritans.html About the Puritans]</ref> Some Puritans wished to 'purify' national [[church]]es (such as the [[Church of England]]) from within, while others (separatists or nonconformists) sought to practice their [[religion]] in separate congregations.<ref name="WSU">[http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/purdef.htm Puritanism in New England], Washington State University</ref>

Puritan beliefs were largely derived from [[Calvinism]], but no single set of beliefs and practices existed. Puritan groups generally professed the following:
*Belief in the [[Bible]] as the only true path to Christianity, and rejection of extra-Biblical [[Theology|theologies]] ([[purgatory]], [[absolution]], [[transubstantiation]], etc.)
*Belief in a direct and personal relationship with [[God]] ("the priesthood of all believers") through [[prayer]], personal conscience, and [[confession]] to God (not to a [[priest]]).
*Rejection of the [[mysticism]] surrounding ordained priests, as well as their rituals; Puritans eschewed the use of the word "priest" and dispensed with the upper levels of the former ecclesiastical hierarchy, practicing [[Congregationalism|congregational church governance]].<ref name="WSU" />
*Rejection of religious imagery and other artworks as [[Idolatry|idolatrous]]. This sometimes extended to [[iconoclasm]] — breaking statues, pictures, and church windows.
*Viewing contemporary society as decadent and [[sin]]ful, and extreme disapproval of "worldly" activities such as dancing, drunkenness, [[gambling]], and the theater.<ref name="WSU" />

==Intolerance==
{{main|Tolerance}}
Although Puritans had fled England to escape religious intolerance there, Puritans were themselves intolerant towards other religions and practiced a theocracy within Massachusetts Bay Colony.<ref name=baracskay>[https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1372/puritans Puritans] by Daniel Baracskay (2009) ''The First Amendment Encyclopedia''.</ref> Puritans were particularly intolerant of people with [[heretical]] views and of [[Quakers]]. Roger Williams, who had heterodox views, was evicted from the colony and later founded [[Rhode Island]].<ref name=baracskay/> Four Quakers were hanged for their religious beliefs in Boston by the Puritans between 1659 and 1691 (the "Boston [[martyr]]s").<ref name=rogers>[https://archive.org/details/cu31924079609487 ''Mary Dyer of Rhode Island: The Quaker Martyr that was Hanged on Boston Common, June 1, 1660''] by Horatio Rogers (1896) Preston and Rounds.</ref> Several other Quakers were punished by whipping for their religious beliefs.<ref name=rogers/><ref>[https://archive.org/details/collectionofsuff01bess ''A collection of the sufferings of the people called Quakers, for the testimony of a good conscience from the time of their being first distinguished by that name in the year 1650 to the time of the act commonly called the Act of toleration granted to Protestant dissenters in the first year of the reign of King William the Third and Queen Mary in the year 1689''] by Joseph Besse (1753) L. Hinde.</ref> International Religious Freedom Day was created in commemoration of the Boston martyrs.<ref>[https://forsa.org.za/international-religious-freedom-day-freedom-today-doesnt-guarantee-freedom-tomorrow/ International Religious Freedom Day: Freedom Today Doesn’t Guarantee Freedom Tomorrow] by Daniela Ellerbeck (28 October 2016) ''Freedom of Religion South Africa''.</ref>

==Political and sociological usage==
The term "puritan" became popular during the [[sexual revolution]] as a general pejorative synonymous with "prude", along with the explanation that lingering Puritanism in American culture was largely to blame for lack of openness about [[sex]]ual matters and [[nudity]], in contrast to countries like [[France]] and [[Sweden]]. This usage was common in the 1960s-1980s but not so much nowadays. Puritanism is often viewed as one of the antecedents of the modern [[religious right]].

Puritanism has conversely also been viewed as a source of modern [[Politics|political]] [[progressivism]] because the original Puritans who settled in New England were [[utopian]] and desired to stamp out various social evils. The Puritan influence in the northeast along with the [[Quaker]] influence in the mid-Atlantic region led the northern U.S. to become strongly anti-[[slavery]],<ref>[http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/puritan4.html Abolition is the offspring of Puritanism], by George P. Landow, Professor of English and Art History, Brown University</ref> in contrast to the pro-slavery English Cavalier culture which took hold in the coastal Southeast which is seen as the root of modern [[conservatism]], and the Scots-Irish who settled in Appalachia who had quasi-[[libertarian]] attitudes and weren't inclined to support either side in the slavery debate. ''Albion's Seed'' (1989) by David Hackett Fischer is a popular book on the subject attempting to trace modern political divisions in the [[United States|U.S.]] to these four migrations from England.<ref>http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/albion/albion2.html</ref>

According to this view, as the strict Puritan religion waned, the utopian leanings remained; the desire to stamp out social ills shifted from things like dancing and theater to slavery, [[alcohol]], and [[poverty]]: indeed, the early [[prohibition]]ist and [[socialist]] movements often involved the same people, who also took up causes ranging from the necessary and long overdue ([[women's suffrage]]) to the misguided ([[eugenics]]). The first compulsory [[public education]] laws were passed in [[Connecticut]] (1849) and [[Massachusetts]] (1852). Several utopian experiments and writers flourished in the New England region during the 1800s (e.g. Edward Bellamy's ''Looking Backward'', the transcendentalism of Edward Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the early [[anarchism]] of Josiah Warren and Benjamin Tucker) that would become primary influences on progressivism and [[socialism]] alike. This is not the only regional influence as other movements feeding into modern progressivism had their roots in the Midwest (the [[Greenback Party]], the New Harmony community, the battles over abolitionism in [[Kansas]]), the West (the debate over land use policy between Gifford Pinchot and John Muir), and the South (the People's Party and Agrarianism).

==Sexism==
Puritans, who were obsessed with witchcraft, usually accused women of being witches. They also condoned [[marital rape]]. There was also the whole thing about "dressing modestly" so you wouldn't "tempt 
Jesus into torturing
 men". Similar to modern-day [[purity culture]] and [[rape culture]].

==See also==
*[[Religious right]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Fundamentalism]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Theocracy]]
[[Category:Purity culture]]
[[Category:Rape culture]]
[[Category:Sexism]]

Categories: Christianity, Fundamentalism, History, Homophobia, Theocracy, Purity culture, Rape culture, Sexism