Puritan+Beliefs4

__Skit__

Adam- pastor Olivia- scaffold Kelly- puritan woman Nichole- narrator

Read by Nichole: Morrow: (signaling) preaching about fulfilling God’s law from the bible and living a holy life, [then points to Olivia because she questioned the teachings of the church and refused to go to church that past Sunday, she believes people should live an extravagant lifestyle if they can survive long term and still stay religious.] Kelly: (pointing at Olivia) says "The Devil has poisoned her mind, punish her!" Olivia: (stands hopeless to their mocking and judgement) I wish to state my opinions, this religion is untrue there should be a choice, for freedom!" Morrow: (points and says), “this is what will happen to you if you wish to live your life away from God you will become empty-minded and you will not have righteous morals”

__Puritan Beliefs__

The Puritans led a very simple yet complex lifestyle all in the same. Puritans were a group of religious people gathered as one, forming a starting congregation of their own. They broke away from the Church of England because of the entwinement the English church had with politics and the government. They felt as if there was no hope left to fix the church so the choice of separation in America had to be made to escape persecution from the hands of power. They felt that to totaly purify their church they had to eliminate all Catholic influences. As their own group the founders made their own moral and societal reforms that were set to the standards of people who wanted a strict and thoroughly moral way of life. The Bible was law to this religious community. God had transcribed his laws into this sacred book and it was there to set guidelines for the path of purity. They did not form just one large group much like other religions the followers of Puritan beliefs spread throught out the New England area and formed small individual groups. God is motivation.

Because of their simple lifestyle it was harder for them to live ordinary daily lives. They had to work together to have successful colonies of faith. Any deviations from the n ormal way of Puritan life met with strict disapproval and discipline. Since the church elders were also political leaders, any church infraction was also a social one. There was no margin for error. The devil was behind every evil deed.

The Puritans believed that consequences for crimes should be public and humiliating. For example they would make you stand in contraptions called pillories where you are either clutched by either the ankles or wrists and neck, sometimes even all three. Also the people who committed the crimes might have been punished by being forced to wear a letter (first initial of crime) that stood for the crimes. There were more brutal punishments such as, branding with hot awls, piercing the tongues of those who spoke against the religion, even ears were sliced off, there were whippings, and executions.

Some rules to show just how strict things were: women and men were to never sit on the same side of the church, attending church was a must, it was against the law to dismiss it, people were to hide their emotions,   

A Puritan family A Puritan being punished for the transgressions they have committed. This is similar to Hester being forced to stand on the scaffold.

([|www.newengland.ancestors.org]). ([|www.discoveryschool.com]) (http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/puritans.html) __([|**http://mb-soft.com/believe/txc/puritani.htm**])__ 