The Puritans Religious Beliefs

Deciding that religious freedom is worth the risks, the puritans crossed the sea. Puritans were reformed protestants and believed that the church of England was still too much like it was before. They believed the church of was corrupt. They didn’t break from the church but sought to reform it, so they set out for the New World in the 1630. When they arrived in the New England area they decided to start a new colony. The puritans were very strict and didn’t tolerate other religions.

In the 1630's and the 1640's, the Puritans traveled to the colonies to detach from their opinion of a convoluted Church of England. They set up towns and started new lives that were all based on their idea of a pure religion. The Puritan's definition of a pure religion did not include many of the ideas of the Church of England. They built the colonies and made a system based upon the idea that God was the most important aspect of life. Puritan ideas and values influenced the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660’s by spreading their beliefs into every facet of daily life. Politically their ideas regarding what was considered sinful behavior and how power was separated among the

The puritans go create the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They didn’t have strict rules like England, people were not forced to go to church, it all seems great. However, there were many issues. Puritans believed in Calvinism, or predestination. This was the idea that everything is preset by God and nothing you do can change your fate. “Nothing a person did in his or her lifetime could alter God’s choice or provide assurance that the person was predestined for salvation with the elect or damned to hell with the doomed multitude.” (The American

Puritanism--a product of the protestant reformation--was founded on the belief that only those who have felt the presence of god should be given church membership. The Puritans beliefs strongly conflicted with the religious systems of England, causing them to search for a new home. The Pilgrims, being some of the first to leave England, traveled to holland for a 12 span and then eventually docked at Plymouth Bay in New England. Being outside of the Virginia Company’s territory their permission to settle was void, but settle they did. Following the pilgrims lead, in 1630 close to one thousand puritans sailed the Atlantic to escape persecution and settle in the new world. Due to a population comprised mainly of Puritans, The New England colonies were founded upon religious values. The Puritans religious beliefs caused them to set up a government built upon the church and to be xenophobic to non Puritans, but were ultimately the key to their colonies success.

The Puritans were a group of people from England who settled the New World (1) called America after the year of 1630. They went to America to be free to practice their religion without being persecuted because their beliefs were opposing the catholic’ one. The difference was that the Puritans tried harder to enforce the Ten Commandments but Americans were influenced by the moral, ethical, and religious convictions of the Puritans.

Like the Pilgrims, the Puritans were from England, and were dissatisfied with the church reform of England. So in 1630, after much persecution, the Puritans set out for America. When they arrived in America they established the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a harbor for Puritans to live and be safe while practicing the Puritan faith. They lived a strict, stern life but were free to worship unlike they were in England. They were strict Calvinists, which means they believed that God was all powerful and had chosen a few people called “the elect” for salvation (Puritans). The Puritans believed that humankind was “utterly dependent upon God for salvation... They were [Christians] who regarded humans as sinners, unwilling and unable to meet the demands, or to enjoy the fellowship, of a righteous God apart from God's gracious initiative” (Puritanism).

The English reformed Protestants would be funded to establish a new colony in the America’s with almost radical ideals. They were called the Puritans, but shaped American history. John Winthrop led the expedition that bring this religion across the sea with good and pure examples. Puritan ideas and beliefs affected the political reign as well as the economy, not to mention the entire society.

Puritans believed in predestination and that all human beings were to conform to divine law.

The English Puritans were a group of reformed Christians looking to escape for England and its religious persecutions. With reformed beliefs and ideals, the Puritans came to the New World forming new behaviors and strengthening unity among believers in God and worship. Causing controversial conflict and laying persecutions of their own, the Puritans will subse-quently transform early America by laying the foundation for political, social and religious plat-forms.

The Puritan belief system had an emphasis placed upon the righteousness and sovereignty of the Christian God. Their belief was that all things were directed by the sheer will of God and that he would direct all things to an intellectual end. They also had a partiality to the teachings of the Old Testament. Their view of the Old Testament, particularly that of the story of Adam and Eve, influenced their view of salvation. Their belief was that all humans were immoral sinners incapable of earning any merit in the eyes of God. Their belief structure was focused on the concept of predestination, the religious concept that God chose those who were worth of salvation, and that belief was a constant mainstay of their faith. This belief gave them a reason that allowed them to explain that every human being was bound to obey divine law by the covenant of works and if they disobeyed said covenant of works they would be truly condemned to hell for it. Essentially this meant they had to live every part of their lives strictly by divine law or they would realize the true threat of the fire brimstone of hell. Traditional divine law was inescapable even for

Puritans were English Protestant reformers who aimed to purify the Church of England of Catholic rituals and creed. Many of them believed only “visible saints” were welcome in the church. The Separatists were a group of Puritans who, rather than purify the Church of England, chose to break away from it all together. These Separatists settled in Holland, where from there, many sailed to the New World on the Mayflower. They eventually landed in Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts, where many Puritans soon followed.

The Puritans lived an austere life that focused on hard work and obedience towards God. This harsh lifestyle conditioned them to never give up and to endure the harsh elements they faced in the new world. Although they forbid many things such as dancing or gambling, the Puritans embraced writing, and the works of several Puritan authors provide a glimpse into everyday Puritan life. William Bradford, John Winthrop, and Cotton Mather each convey a unique aspect of Puritan thought and, combined, the authors provide a detailed account of the core Puritan beliefs and the struggles the colonists faced in their quest to be a city upon a hill that perfectly modeled Christian ideals.

One of the main things that the Puritans believed in was God. They believed that God was always there for them and watching their every move. They also believed that God arranged everything with a purpose. The Puritans were very big on having faith. They considered faith and belief to be the conversion experience. If you did not have faith then you did not have anything. Faith was the one thing that would give them strength and get them through any situation. They believed that God was the only one that had a say in what would happen when it came to certain situations that people had to deal with or problems that people had.

How did the Puritans and their religious orthodoxy get established? Well first, the Puritans were originally an assembly within the English Protestants that had left England between 1920’s to 1930’s because of their unhappiness with the new reforms such as Catholicism in the Church of England. The first colony to be created in New England was in Plymouth by the Separatist Puritans better known as the Pilgrims. The Separatist wanted to completely separate themselves from the church entirely in order to achieve their religious freedom. Whereas the additional Puritans that arrived later, as stated in the textbook, “These well-to-do Puritans and many thousands more left their English homes not to establish a land of religious freedom, but to practice their own religion without persecution” (80). Because they wanted to create colonies without the corruption that occurred in the Church of England. Of course, the Puritans would need foundations in their Plymouth colonies to survive, and one of the best was, with the Pilgrims who built their foundation on hard-working labor and only relied on each other to farm and build. It was that strong labor ethic that helped to propel their ultimate capitalistic commercial success such as trading using their own built maritime ships. Whereas the foundation of the additional Puritans was more directed towards their religious orthodoxy of a restructured version of Protestantism. However, it was the Massachusetts Bay colony who created a purified

The Puritans were very poor people and did not have much when they came to the new world. Most of them did not have much for money and really did not have a way to work themselves up to a better situation. Not only were they poor, but they also were at the very bottom of the social classes. The elected officials and royalty were at the top. They believed that the English liturgy was too Catholic and that ecclesiastical courts were corrupt that put them further down on the social class (God in America). They wanted to purify the Church and recognized that