W1: Hollywood History, Puritans Myth Although the thought that the Puritans came to America to establish religious freedoms may make sense to those in the past, it has since been deemed a myth. The Puritans were Christians who, instead of taking up the newfound practices and views of the Church of England, decided that they need to return to the simplicity of the Bibles teachings and scriptures. Since the initialization of the new national Church of England under rule of King Henry VIII, membership was forced upon citizens of England and left a specific group to be left wondering why the church had strayed away from the simplistic way of worshiping from the early Christians and wanted to purify the church, going back to the way it once was.
This group of people would later be known as "puritans" or "separatists". The Puritans saw America, the new land, as an opportunity to escape the new ways of the Church of England, reforming anew and straying away from things like specific practices from "the 'Book of Prayer,'
stained glass, incense" and priestly vestments as they "felt these features distracted from the word of God as preached from the Bible." The original intention was to form their own church near the now known New York City while still under the English government. During travel on the Mayflower the shoal
water and winds led them to Cape Cod in New England on November 11th, 1620. The Puritans eventually explored to seek the building of their community in Plymouth Harbor on December 16th, who's teachings and ways of religion, "continued to mold American thought and practices in the next centuries."
In conclusion, rather than seeking religious freedom as the myth states, the Puritans were ones who wanted to purify the Church of England from its new implemented ways and eventually made voyage to America to implement the basics of their already settled religion to escape the transformation being made to Christianity from the church.
Cites:
Hilleary, Cecily. "1620: Who Were the Puritans?" Voice of America. December 21, 2020. https://www.voanews.com/a/6199723.html
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Curtis, Ken PH.D. "Who Were the Puritans?" Christianity. August 10, 2022. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/who-were-
the-puritans-11630087.html
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“Who Were the Pilgrims?” Plimoth. https://plimoth.org/for-students/homework-
help/who-were-the-pilgrims
. (this website did not include authors or publishing date)
