Colony Quote by Kurt Andersen
““The Puritans are conventionally considered more "moderate" than the Pilgrims. This is like calling al-Qaeda more moderate than ISIS. The Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans were no less mad... They forbade Church of England clergy from setting foot in their new American theocracy in Boston and Salem, hung Quakers, and passed a law to hang any Catholic priests who might dare show up.””
About This Quote
Source Article: “The Puritans and the Pilgrims” in The Atlantic, 2019
He compares Puritan extremism to modern extremist groups, arguing they were far from moderate.
In simple terms: Puritanans were extreme, not moderate.
Key Takeaway
Recognize historical religious intolerance.
Themes
religion
history
extremism
Mood
critical
analytical
Type
historical
controversial
When to use this quote
- educational curricula
- public discourse
- interfaith dialogue
- policy making
Key Concepts
theology
colonialism
social control
Questions to Reflect On
- How do we balance historical accuracy with modern relevance?
- What lessons can contemporary societies learn from past religious intolerance?
A Different Perspective
Historical analogies can oversimplify complex contexts.
![“The [nineteenth-century] young men who were Puritans in politics were anti-Puritans in literature. They were willing to die for the independence of Poland or the Manchester Fenians; and they relaxed their tension by voluptuous reading in Swinburne.” quote by Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e3c/rebecca-west-1248_books_the-nineteenth-century-young-men-who-wer_1649904.jpg)
![“That country [Carthage] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws; and every step of intestine discord was marked by some deplorable victory of savage man over civilized society.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/70c/edward-gibbon-710_barbarism_that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinkin_393.jpg)
