Puritans

drown them, burn them. Anything to get rid of them if they were proven to be witches.

a single person

intolerant of the religious views held by others

They thought the teachings were wrong and was to much like the roman church.

Madonna

Oscar Wilde

Because some Puritans thought that they shouldn't do what people ordered them to do and that they should do what they want.

They went over to them demanded their thing and therfore they had to do what the had to do.

Town Meetings and Church Services

Yes. They believed this quite strongly and that individuals were predestined to go to Heaven or Hell, i.e. that their choices could not influence God's decision.

to be free and practice their own religion

Did an A level history module on these guys...

Basically there are two main strands of historical interpretation on these guys: the traditional view, and then the more revisionist view.

The Puritans arose as a movement after the Elizabethan Church Settlement of 1559, which established England as a Protestant nation after Queen Mary's Catholic restoration. However, it was very different to the Protestant Church of her younger brother Edward V. She followed more the lead of Luther, whilst her brother followed that of Calvin. Elizabeth, to appease her nation who was mostly catholic (the revisionists argue), established a Church with Protestant theology, but maintaining many of the Catholic rituals and traditions. In brief, it "looked Catholic, but sounded Protestant".

The Puritans were a (minority) group, that rebelled against this, seeking to be stricter like the times under Edward. Whilst the traditional argument was that this was a huge group of people, revisionist argue that they were but a small sect. Many of them illegally abstained from Anglican Church services, and instead formed isolated communities. They believed that they were the elect, chosen by God to enter heaven, and that all others not in their communities were the 'reprobate' (that is, those damned to hell), and as such, they wanted little to do with them.

Anything that wasn't strictly biblical they banned. Bright clothing was outlawed as worldish. Maypoles were cut down, as there routes were in pagan tradition. They had names for themselves like 'the Godly'.

Defining exactly what a Puritan was, is difficult (I remember having to write essays on it!), simply because there were many different types, from those who simply didn't like wearing Catholic vestments, to those who wanted to overhaul Elizabeth as head of the Church. At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, the Puritan threat came from those protesting the vestments, and as that died away, it was replaced by the Puritan shadow Church, which rivalled the Anglican Church.

Indeed, the very term 'Puritan', was never actually used by Puritans to describe themselves. It was in fact an insult used for them by the rest of the Christian folk.

But in the words of a modern historian, a Puritan was a 'hotter Protestant'

Boringly. God came first in their lives. Makeup, celebrating Christmas, football and lots of other fun things were banned. This is because their leader thought it distracted them from their devotion to Christ.

God had chosen certain people to go to heaven.

Apex =)

the puritans survived on mostly food and they grew cattle and just survived like we do today... just alittle different

^Dont take that answer it is not right. This person is an idiot. Seriously dude?

For the Puritans, conversion meant the experience of a profound spiritual transformation in which an individual's heart and mind were turned towards God. It involved a deep sense of conviction of sin, repentance, and a personal encounter with God's grace leading to a new life of faith and obedience. Conversion was seen as essential for salvation and membership in the church.

The word "Puritan" was often used to characterize the Protestant group as extremists similar to the Cathari of France. They did not call themselves Puritans, but their intent was to "purify" the Christian religious practices.

a ghost

The Puritans were fatalistic in that they believed in the doctrine of the elect (predestination).

The Puritans were English Protestants who were unhappy with the Church of England. They believed it had strayed too far from the Bible and was too close to the Catholic church in its rich decoration and its belief that a person could have a relationship with God only through a church and a priest, not directly. They believed in plain and simple houses, clothing and churches, not the rich decorations of the time. They were persecuted by the Church and by King James and so left England for America in order to worship as they believed.

The first Pilgrims in America went to Virginia in 1618, but most went to New England. The Pilgrims founded the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620. Other Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony near present-day Boston in 1829 and the Connecticut Colony in 1636.

The creation of a military dictatorship

The Puritan houses of the Colonies in America looked like wooden structures with a very steep roof. The steep roof was to keep water and snow from collecting on the roof. They were made from lumber cut into 2 by 4's and planks. The houses were usually painted a dark color like a dark gray or brown. They had few windows.

The first ones were, because they escaped the rel. persecution in England. Later, they werent, bc. all they knew was strict rel. code, discipline, and hard work.

Salem which trials is one

Their puritans belief about human nature is that we are all corrupt and ooze sin. That nothing good comes from our bodies -- be it fecal matter, urine, saliva, whatever.

They built their new city with the Church being at the focal and geographic center. The more important you were, the closer to the center you lived. Trouble was and still is, the further from center you get, the more corrupt you are likely to become. In their case, the more difficult it was to make it to church at the appointed times. Life just sort of takes over. At some point, people generally say, "What's the use, it's too far away and I have other things that I must attend to." The further from center people get, the more difficult it is to control them.