With all of the troubles in our world today it may seem odd to address a movement that was popular over 300 years ago. However, past events are sometimes purposely misconstrued and falsely repeated for generations in order to continue an on-going attack against Christ and His Church. Such could be the case I encountered recently concerning the Puritan founders of New England.
On Wednesday, October 23, 2013 I was driving in my car listening to NPR (National Public Radio) as the announcer began comparing the two cities whose baseball teams were in the World Series, Boston and St. Louis. While describing the city of Boston the broadcaster glibly said something to the effect that the Puritan founders of Massachusetts were people that sat around doing nothing except occasionally reading the Bible and burning women at the stake for being witches.
I couldn’t believe my ears and was struck, not only by the unbalanced view of the Puritans, but also by the utter disregard of history that this poor attempt at humor revealed. In dealing with Puritan New England, we cannot deny the terrible fact that judicial abuses and societal hysteria contributed to putting innocent people to death for practicing witchcraft. However, when discussing this issue, it is worth remembering that almost every nation in Europe,and the Near East, participated in such practices during the same period. To condemn a group of people like those that settled New England without acknowledging that they were a product of their times displays an arrogance that fails to consider our own shortcomings which might be observed by future generations.
The entire NPR broadcast reinforced false stereotypes about the Puritans that would never be acceptable to make about any other group in our politically correct culture. Underlying the attack upon the descendants of the early Pilgrims is a prevailing negative attitude toward Christianity that shows itself by magnifying past sins and minimizing or ignoring its strengths and contributions.
For example, to say that the Puritans did nothing except to occasionally sit around and “read the Bible” relegates the study of Scripture to a worthless endeavor. This also disregards the values, courage, and work ethic that enabled the early American Puritans, not only to survive in a hostile environment, but to succeed in laying the very foundation of what would later become a free republic.
Beyond that, the announcer failed to mention that New England was legally bound to uphold British law which made witchcraft a capital offense. He also displayed his utter ignorance of history by implying that only women were punished and that the accused were put to death by burning during the Salem trials. In fact, both men and women were imprisoned for practicing witchcraft, and both were executed, unjustly, for that crime. Furthermore, not one single person was burned for witchcraft during these proceedings. This is an important point to underscore because the idea of burning someone is so repulsive that it can be repeated simply in order to elicit a negative emotional response from the listener which might further discredit those being accused of such acts.
Now it is true that the punishments inflicted upon innocent people were heinous, baseless and unrighteous. However, falsely accusing the Puritans of even greater atrocities is also a violation of the moral law that prohibits bearing false witness against another person. As is often the case, and as the NPR program demonstrates, it is frequently easier to spot the speck in the eye of another person that the log in one’s own.
Moreover, what is rarely mentioned in 21st Century attacks against the authorities during these trials is that some of the accused had manifested very odd behavior that, at the time, was normally considered to be instigated by demonic oppression. Rather than enacting the type of judicial process that is found in the Bible, the citizens of Salem allowed vindictiveness, childish pranks, and mass hysteria to sway the magistrates until a miscarriage of justice occurred. Sadly, this was not the first or the last time that such factors have made a mockery of the judicial process, religious sentiment, and public discourse in human history. The best way for such events to teach us valuable lessons is by honest assessment rather than by outright lies that are couched in mocking arrogance. The latter will only make us smug and may ensure that we repeat these types of errors, rather than learning from them.
Finally, what is rarely mentioned by those that comment on such issues is the self-correction and repentance that occurred during these events. Men such as Reverend Increase Mather and Governor Phipps denounced the judiciary abuses. Some of the false witnesses were brought to repentance and acknowledgment of their sins. Among the accused awaiting sentence most were cleared of charges, had their reputation restored, and were compensated financially for their false arrest. Therefore, contrary to the opinion expressed on NPR, there is actually much we can glean from the 300 year old Puritan movement such as their humble repentance and continuing desire to grow in the grace of the Lord.
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