Puritans were a group of settlers
in America who came to spread their religion. They didn't venture far from
chosen principles and lived their lives to follow them all; as whole they were
very rigid and stern being sure to follow strict moral codes. In their
community, someone would be looked down upon for not praying daily or going to
church on Sunday; reading a book other than the bible was unheard of, and by
doing so one was accused of being a witch! Puritans set out to be a Utopian
society but there seemed to always be some internal chaos.
Today many people would consider
Puritans to pretty much be null and void. However the people that resemble
Puritans the most today are, in my opinion, extremist Muslims. Extremist
are people who believe in something, whether politically or religiously, and
will go to extreme heights “protect” it; some even going as far as hurting
others to convey their message.
Now don’t get me wrong, not all
Muslims are extremists. In fact, a vast majority of them are not and the ones
who are have put a bad label on the Muslim religion. These groups of Muslim fundamentalists,
like the Puritans, follow their code of behavior or religious writings down to
every word, and a lot times resent any views that oppose their own. An example of this would be 911. The US has
project this westernized version of living and, from a different point of view,
have forced it on other cultures. Cultures that really don’t believe in it and
don’t want it displayed to their people as something cool to do, especially if
it counters their religious principles. This “pushiness” of the US enraged the
extremist igniting a feud which caused them to strike back with terrorist
attacks that killed many!
Extremist groups today are similar
to Puritans. Both groups strongly believe in their ideologies and almost never
see any other another way thinking. They set out to be perfect, and try to
follow their codes without question or hesitation; those who don’t follow them
are looked down upon and both groups do something about it, whether it is
public humiliation or violence. Modern day Puritans = Extremists Groups.
I highly agree with your statements of how extremists are very similar to Puritans, due to the fact that Puritans were, in a sense, extremists. Breaking a simple rule would cause you to be severely punished or be frowned upon. This is what extremists today do. In addition to that, they constantly put religion is such high account and in such high power that it dictates their every move, life or death. I like your new sense of extremists being Puritans, and I regret myself not seeing it. Good job! Do you think that there are any particular groups today that are much like Puritans, however?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment and for reading my blog (You definitely got what I was trying to say)! To answer your question, I think that members of the Westboro Baptist Church have that "extremist modern day puritan-esk" about themselves, and they, like the puritans, have strong idealogies. Members of the Westboro church seem to be people that will stop at nothing than to protect what they believe in and will do so even if means restorting to extreme measures!
DeleteI agree with what you said about how Puritans were extremist and how because of that, there was always somebody not living up to their standards who was therefor "evil". You could have mentioned how in our society it is fairly common to see extremists not only with religion but even with something as simple as political standpoints or even dieting and fitness.
ReplyDelete