Coming in under the wire on this busy, stressful 28th day. [Thought I had a condo nailed, but at the very LAST minute, the deal fell through, thanks to what I consider possible greed on the part of the board.] So....back to thinking about something else besides getting a less expensive roof over my head.
I do a lot of reading online every day. Yesterday, I ran into a blog dedicated to untold or undertold stories in American history. (Sorry....I can't remember the name of the blog after all the other excitement). The undertold story for today was about Increase Mather, the youngest of five sons of a 17th century minister who became a minister himself and adhered strictly to the rules of his Puritan roots. His birthday was June 21, which (still) is today. I rode the shuttle bus for almost 20 years with a teacher whose last name was Mather, and I got to thinking about all the people on the East Coast I've met whose families go way back in American history: people named Sparks and Carroll. Anyway, I started with the history blog, which, via Increase Mather's bio, led me to a website for persons who adhere to a Christian Fundamentalist creed that links directly to the early Puritans.
The Puritans indeed are still with us. They left England in the 17th century to escape the punitive laws of that sect, but they brought themselves along. What was interesting to me was finding that the early Puritans not only were ultra religious but also VERY ACTIVE POLITICALLY! Is this ringing any bells so far? Our own ultra-right fundamentalists have not fallen far from this early Puritan tree at all. What makes them so persistent--and dangerous--in their lust for conversions is their skill in political maneuvering.
I'm sure England was happy to see the Puritans go.
ReplyDeleteThe Founding Fathers were not Puritans -- most were pretty much agnostic or deists which is why the separation of Church and State is part of our Constitution. Thomas Paine was a raging atheist. Get the History Channel's "Founding Fathers" series from Netflix -- it's positively fascinating! The best quote from one of the experts was: "Today John Adams would have been on Prozac."
ReplyDelete@Diana: Enough stayed behind -- Oliver Cromwell was there main man in England.
My family was here and fought with General Washington and were Quakers albeit gun-toting ones which tells me where my renegade tendencies come from. LOL