Do you think the Puritans were idiots?

[NathanH83]

They kinda seem like idiots.

 

[Lamb]

Why do you think they were idiots?

 

[NathanH83]

Why do you think they were idiots?

Salem witch trials. Killing innocent people over false accusations.

 

[pinacled]

Salem witch trials. Killing innocent people over false accusations.

I thought that was an old folk tale propaganda form of sorts..

Puritans as a whole are a label for early colonist of the Americas far as I know.
And labeled as such just before the war of independence.

[ "Puritanism was never a formally defined religious division within Protestantism, and the term Puritan itself was rarely used after the turn of the 18th century. Some Puritan ideals, including the formal rejection of Roman Catholicism, were incorporated into the doctrines of the Church of England; others were absorbed into the many Protestant denominations that emerged in the late 17th and early 18th centuries in North America and Britain. ]

 

[pinacled]

Puritans - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Excerpt; from terminology,

[ In the 17th century, the word Puritan was a term applied not to just one group but to many. Historians still debate a precise definition of Puritanism.[6] Originally, Puritan was a pejorative term characterizing certain Protestant groups as extremist.]

Pejorative;
adjective

expressing contempt or disapproval.

 

[pinacled]

Salem witch trials. Killing innocent people over false accusations.

Are you a member of the church of England?
Yes or No will suffice

 

[NathanH83]

Are you a member of the church of England?
Yes or No will suffice

No

 

[hedrick]

The Puritans were a group of Reformed Christians, who wanted a more pure form of Christianity than they could live in England. Their writings include some classics in traditional Reformed theology and piety. The Salem Witch trials occurred in a community that I guess you'd have to say was influenced by the Puritans. Puritan leaders all accepted the idea of witchcraft, and that t was common. However they were split on validity of the evidence in these trials. The trials were eeventually stopped by colony leadership. I think it's fair to say that they were initiated by hysteria in a local community, but stopped by more sophisticated leaders who understood the dangers of that kind of proceeding. See Salem witch trials - Wikipedia. It's hard to blame Puritans as a whole, since belief in witchcraft was common at the time.

 

[hedrick]

Today we don't have quite the same belief in witches. But many Christians belief that Satan is active in various movements they object to, and that Satan oppresses many people.