POLI 2342 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Puritans, Anglicanism
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The Problem of Religious Toleration!
obedience to authority!•
most settlers from England!◦
some Catholics went to Maryland!◦
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other colonies attracted different flavors of Protestant -> those who ended up in areas not •
hospitable to Protestants!
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religious diversity is a geographic indecent!•
providential!◦
people who became Americans had a long time to settle what they would think about the ◦
notion of toleration!
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this illustrates an arc that starts with extreme intolerance and gradually moves to grudgingly •
tolerant!
George Washington deliberately changed the meaning of tolerance!◦
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Puritans -> most intolerant of all the protestants!
if you didn't worship like them, you had to leave!◦
if you come back, you might have been exiled or hanged!‣
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this was serious but it was less harsh than their rhetoric!•
the puritans passed adultery laws!◦
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Model of Christian Charity
Winthrop!•
head of the winthrop fleet that came to New England in 1629!◦
settled in different parts of Massachusetts Bay !◦
Mass Bay colony, eventually grew to 20,000 -> they were puritans, rebelling against ‣
the anglican church!
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Winthrop and the Purtains -> opposed to the authority of bishops, but not authority in general!
humans need authority to help us be what God wants!◦
the essay asserts that inequality is natural!◦
this was not a shared idea!‣
some rich, some poor, others high and low!‣
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why would God have this?!•
inequality of humans is the source of diversity, diverse by being different!◦
God wants diversity, makes the world more pleasant!‣
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God wants people to learn their blessings, obedience is what the poor people need, rich need •
mercy and justice!
people need each other to prosper!◦
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people are very far from their homes!•
if they can successfully stick together, they will survive!◦
our gifts are given by God for a purpose -> find out what purpose is!◦
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