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Influence of religion on colonial america
Religions impact on the french, spanish, and english colonies
Why is religious freedom so important in the United States
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Religious toleration in the British colonies was more limits than it was expansion. When there was "religious toleration", it had to go based on some rules that were put by the main church or by the royal Supremacy. Elizabeth the first is an adequate example of this. The Quakers were also limited by the church of England. Puritans along with the Quakers were pushed out of the colony and very badly tortured if they were caught going against the word of the Book of Prayer. Every time that a colony was able to practice their own religion, they would have to go by the rules and guidelines set by those with higher authority and power. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were two colonies that were known to be religiously free. They were thought to be havens for fleeing religious parties from England. Elizabeth the first took over after Edward the 6th. Elizabeth reasserted her fathers separation from Rome and her half brothers (Edward) demand for conformity. Many common people of the colony thought that she wouldn't be able to achieve what she was striving for. By doing what her dad …show more content…
This was a red flag towards England and its church. Puritans believed that God already had already planned if you were destined to go to heaven or hell by the time you were born. They thought that if they just lived a normal "moral life", that would be suitable and nothing one did would change Gods decision on where they were destine to go. They also challenged the that the England church would sell purgatory slips. With the purchase of these slips, or passes, one could buy their way into heaven and or clear themselves or another person of the sins they had committed during their lifetime. Puritans did not agree with the false se statement tat the church was making to the people about being able to clear their sins and get into heaven. They believed that if a person was chosen to go to heaven, then it would show in their character and in their way of
Puritan practices didn’t dominate over the colonies in the way that they used to. Many people grew tired of the old-fashioned, strict thinking of the Puritans. Some people even went so far as to say that humans were not all destined to go to hell, which was a pretty outrageous change in thought for this time. Most people who believed this were of the new faith known as Arminianism, which was founded by Jacobus Arminius. Arminianism had a rather large following, making it a definite threat towards the Puritans. This is just one of many examples in which people of this time began moving towards liberalism.
The Puritans were "Christians," in that they believed in Jesus Christ yet some may argue that they did not lead "Christian" lives. These fanatics seemed to obssess over a major tenet of their religion, that being "Pre Destination." That is, God Himself chose those destined for eternal salvation in the beginning of time, long before our conception and birth. This pre-ordained number is considerably miniscule, which, at times, the Puritans seemed to ignore.
American colonies were clearly established with the intent to all live together with Christian beliefs, but with so many interpretations and versions of the same religious scripture, freedom to practice whichever adaptation feels right became most important in colonial life. And as a safe haven for those who were persecuted in their home countries, America truly flourished as a place for the religiously tolerant.
The world of Puritan New England, like the world of today, was filled with many evil influences. Many people were able to withstand temptation, but some fell victim to the dark side. Such offences against God, in thought, word, deed, desire or neglect, are what we define as sin (Gerber 14).
The New England colony was very big on religion.They were made up of Puritans and they were pretty strict which might be one reason that everyone was really religious because they were told to be. The Puritans were one of the first people in New England and they dominated New England.There were other groups of religion but none as big as the Puritans. The Puritans dominated because they were very strict unlike the other groups. They were really big on family So the only thing that was as important as religion was basically your family. One other reason why
To this day, the word “puritan” connotes both rigidity and a generally narrow view on life. The dictionary definition of Puritan (the capital refers to the actual religious group) includes, "...demanding the simplification of doctrine and worship, and greater strictness in religious discipline” (Source A). Simplification of their religion would be an understatement of what the Puritans did. Basically, acts were separated into good or evil, approved by God or frowned upon. In this robotic fashion, with no gray area, cruel ignominy was shockingly popular, and used in unworthy situations. An example lies in Source B, a still from the movie adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s magnum opus, The Scarlet Letter. (Although classified as a fictional work the novel is known for it’s factual representations of the Puritans’ behavior.) For committing adultery, Hester Prynne is assigned a lone standing position on the town scaffold, essentially to be put on display and judged while nervously clutching her new baby. To add ridicule, she is enclosed by guards carrying swords and other various weapons. It makes one wonder just how much destruction a woman and her baby are capable of.
Many of England’s problems could be solved in America, and so colonization began. When the earliest settlers came, England had the responsibility to continue the Protestant Church, and prevent the Catholic Church from converting the entire Native American population of North America (Morison, p.105) A potential Protestant refuge could be based there in the threat of civil wars or a change of religion.
The Puritans first became a sect in England, where they became dissatisfied with the Church of England and sought reform. They led a civil war but their victory was short-lived and they came to North America to escape persecution. “The Puritans believed that the Bible was God’s true law and that it provided a plan for living.” They wanted to live according to this belief and that is what brought the separation between them and the Church of England. For the Puritans, God was to be the motivation of all their actions (Kizer, Kay). They believed in piousness, righteousness, and hard work. (Campbell, Douglas).
“Johnny, I better not catch you lying or you will go straight to hell,” said no Puritan mom ever. The Puritans believed in predestination, which is the belief that God has already predetermined who would receive salvation (Heyrman). People could do nothing to change their fate because they had no free will, but the Puritans still believed in strictly following the Bible. Extremely harsh punishments were administered for everything including sins we today consider inconsequential (Cox). The Puritan belief in predestination contradicted itself and other beliefs within the Puritan religion.
Many of the Puritan's beliefs are valid, while others would strike today's society as outrageous. Most Puritans believe that God was the only way to heaven and that his grace could not be earned. They believed that a select few were chosen at birth to go to Heaven. These select few could live their lives however they contented, yet still being allowed to go to Heaven. God would determine each individual's destiny and no man could influence or change his providence. Man will either receive redemption or condemnation, regardless of how "good" or "bad" the individual lived their life.
To understand how the Puritans viewed religion, one needs to look at how they understood their Christian God. The Puritans knew God though the bible and what their ministers preached. They did not believe that God would speak directly to mortals. The Puritan Minister Robert Cushman once stated, “Whereas God of the old [Testament] did call and summon our fathers by predictions, dreams, visions, and certain illuminations…. Now there is no such calling to be expected for any matter whatsoever.” In the Puritan’s time, if God was to speak directly with a mortal, it was thought to be the devil in disguise. One Puritan woman, Anne Hutchinson, was believed to have predictions from God. This infuriated the Puritans because they did not believe in the idea of God giving her visions and thoughts. They believed that Satan was the one giving her these visions and thoughts. Consequently, the Puritans then banished her into the wilderness outside of Massachusetts Bay. This shows that the Puritans treated anyone who did not totally agree with them as an outcast to their society.
The search for freedom from religious persecution lead to the exploration and settlement of the American colonies. Monarchs believed it was their responsibility to make sure all citizens worshipped God the way they believed was correct. "All subjects of the English crown were required to attend the Church of England and pay the church a tithe. Failure to do so was a criminal offense and was punishable by fines, imprisonment, and even death" (Chapter 5 Lecture Notes). Religious
The Great Awakening was a period of religious revival throughout the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. It began because some Christians believed that a decline of religious zeal in the colonies had occurred. Leaders called on people to examine their lives and commit themselves to god; these preachers quickly spread the ideas of the Great Awakening throughout the colonies and led to the rise of many new organized churches.
American society in the 1640s was much different then the America we know in today’s time. Protestant Puritans worshiped freely in America, whereas they were persecuted and ridiculed in Europe for their beliefs. They journeyed to America where they could escape the religion they deemed corrupt and sinful; Catholicism. Religion guided how the Puritans lived their lives and how they ruled their establishments. The Puritans set up a way of life in America that included their own literature; beliefs in sin, morality, illegitimacy, guilt, and the justice system; and the religious practices in their governments and their society.
Instead, distinguishing one Christian group from the other they piously believed that their own religious practice was the purest and faultless. Among colonists, Puritans had one of the most fanatical views on the concept of their religion. Despite Puritan settlers themselves have been persecuted by the Church of England, religious intolerance manifested itself in many aspects among the colonists. For instance, Roger Williams, New England’s most prominent advocate of religious toleration was banished by the Puritan leaders of the colony of Massachusetts for contradicting with the Puritan Church regulations and dissemination of “new” and “anti-puritan” ideas to his congregants. Perry Miller stood for the idea that religious tolerance and esteem should take place in society for peaceful coexistence “none of the papists, Protestants, Jews or Turks, be forced to come to the ship’s prayers or worship, if they practice any (#12, p.40)." Roger Williams's ideology of the religious tolerance found a response in the hearts of many people who were searching for "freedom of conscience"—the freedom to believe and preach as they wished. Williams endorsed everyone, Jews, and Catholics, Quakers and atheists, even when he disagreed with their religion. In the colonial period, the religion played the role of the cudgel in suppressing and discriminating