See You on the Astral Plane, Brother

            I’d like to examine the personality of these Puritans and their actions, rather than just writing them off as Pequot-killing, stillborn-burying, heartless religious zealots. Their motivations were different, but it was a different time. They believed in different things, and these beliefs caused them to do things we may consider inhumane. Their moral compass was pointing in a different direction –well, it would have been if it were even calibrated.

            I have a great deal of respect for John Winthrop, and even if you don’t appreciate his assumed control and arrogance you must say he was quite the fellow. He truly cared about his people, even if the ones who were wicked, sacrilegious heathens. He was like a shepherd corralling his flock, or a father nursing his young. As Vowell says, he was loving in his punishment, and many strict Puritans faulted him for his leniency. She likened him to a father who never wants to see his son again, but drives him to a bus stop so he can get out of town safe and warm. Then again, it’s hard to call a man who orders the de-ear-ification of a man and banishes another soft just because he allowed him to stay alive through the winter.

            The whole story of these colonists struggling to distance themselves from England without separating from their Mother is a tragedy, and Winthrop encapsulates this exaltation. I think of him as the Cicero of the Puritan Era, torn between Mother England and the New World and the changing ideals, all the while preaching love and care and greatness within and for the community.  He, too, takes a middle way. Winthrop is also conflicted with his view of the symbol of the cross on the flag, citing it as a symbol bequeathed by the pope to the king of England to be wielded as a sign throughout the crusades. However, the brilliance of the Roman isn’t matched, for Winthrop is of course embarrassed and stumped by Hutchinson in the courtroom, a place where the legal tongue of Cicero made his name. Winthrop saw himself as a father, explaining his communitarian ideals. He wasn’t a robot; he missed his wife, and came up with a regular rendez-vous on the astral plane. Sure, this sounds crazy, but do we not go to the same ridiculous lengths for our loved ones?

            Roger Williams too is a complex individual. He’s stubborn and argumentative –a dangerous combination. He reminds me of many people I know who insist on their viewpoint even after it is proven wrong. If Winthrop is the Cicero of this New World, then Williams is the Cato. As Vowell says, “Williams’s greatness lies in his refusal to keep his head down in a society that prizes nothing more than harmony and groupthink (p. 127). He cares about truth more than popularity, like the great Roman senator, also holding the dream of religious liberty and racial equality dear. However, he also epitomizes the dearth of compromise in Massachusetts Bay, a need that has been perpetuated in Washington. Today we’re so polarized in our political views that we refuse to consider the other side. We must open our eyes and hearts to the perspective and love of others. As Martin Luther King said, “I love you. I would rather die than hate you.”

Puritanism

It’s been said that a puritan is someone who is deathly afraid
that someone, somewhere, is having fun. I had long considered that to be true, attributing steadfast rules against tomfoolery and a harsh, religious demeanor to these early colonists. Little did I know that the Puritans were the foundation for our literature. They put all their faith in the written word: the Bible. We need to get back to that. I’m not saying we need to worship the Bible, but we need to write more and read more. Books, poems, plays, it doesn’t matter. We need something to free us from this digital age. Even now I make this plea online on a blog. We must get back to tangible books full of knowledge and lessons, not YouTube videos of cute cats.

This wisdom and knowledge, as said by Adams, was necessary to preserve our liberty and rights. This again is different than the delusions of puritans we think of today. These “spoilsports” held education in great reverence, an inherent need in any civilization. But we still don’t know the puritans as those scholars. We’re caught up in misconceptions. Vowell admits to this flaw in her own life, citing television for her early political knowledge, I’m embarrassed to say the same, but it is true that I watch the Colbert Report and Daily Show with John Stewart to get caught up on politics and other news.

Although these Puritans were not completely splitting off from England, this emigration was in part an escape. They feared G-d’s wrath. And this falls in line with Cotton’s quotes from scripture: “If Israel will destroy themselves; the fault is in themselves.” This has been true in many civilizations. It is our own fault. One only need to look towards the civil wars of Rome and overexpansion of Athens to see that the fall of great empires is brought upon by their own greed and vices. We Americans tasted this bloody rift in our civil war a century and a half ago. We can identify with this image of our country destroying itself –with us to blame. My mother and father had always voted similarly politically, sharing the same views on taxes and foreign policy. Up until 9/11, politics were not a point of conflict between them. But since then, their views on the War on Terror, deploying troops to Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations have differed. These questions of leaving our country and searching for sanctuary in the land of another ring just as true today as they did four centuries ago. We decided if this war had brought about a draft, then we would flee to Canada, just as the Puritans had fled to Massachusetts Bay.

These colonists gave our nation life, and we bear many similarities to them. One might say, “Yeah, it’s true that we’re a little like these Puritans, but at least we aren’t hanging people for witchcraft.” True, but we’re still “locking people up for fishy reasons and putting our criminals to death.” We’ve made progress –laterally.

As similar as we are to these colonists, we differ in our view of equality –at least constitutionally. Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” Winthrop, to be blunt, disagreed. He understood that “some must be rich, some poor.” Call me a cynic, but I don’t believe we believe that we’re all equal. And, as self-incriminating as it is to admit it, I don’t also. But I’d venture a guess that many of you reading this now don’t buy into that creed either.

                                                                                                               

Come Over and Help Us!

John Cotton's "God's Promise to His Plantation” sets the stage for a sense of entitlement and belonging, which will become perpetuated in our society and in American foreign policy. He labels these seafarers as G-d’s new chosen people. This old trope of a “chosen people” has been used ad infinitum as an exhortation to embark with passion, often to spread religion or government. Or, in this case, both. This has become apparent as the American “Empire” continues to expand, instituting Democracy wherever we see fit, even if no cry for help was decreed. Fortunately, (and I say this with much sarcasm) the Native Americans did indeed reach out to these Puritans, as evidenced by the seal “ Come Over and Help Us.” This is arrogance was not planted by the Puritans. They merely followed the road that had been laid down for centuries by older religions. This ancient seed of American supremacy has sprouted into the impetus that causes the United States to run at the sight of oppression and communism, brandishing freedom as its weapon with the battle cry “Democracy!” If this derision doesn’t reveal my true feelings for the way we act in foreign relations, only a straightforward facial tattoo will. Although this “entitlement” has long been the custom of budding nations, the Puritans handed down this feeling and we have not given it up. It is no fault of their own; everyone was doing it. However our “American exceptionalism” blossomed into war in the Middle East, Korea, and Vietnam a few centuries after it had watered American soil with the blood of the Natives who had “asked for our help.”

Vowell uses Scripture often to frame the mindset and motivation of these early pilgrims. “To whom much is given, of him God will require the more” is the foundation for the Spiderman quote “With great power comes great responsibility. Note: this quote has actually been attributed to Voltaire, but I assumed more people would be familiar with the neighborhood web-slinger than the 18^th century French writer. So much justification nowadays is biblical, whether it’s a perversion of the Bible to encourage homophobia and declare that G-d hates homosexuals or to justify slavery in Christianity. Here it is used to warn the Puritans and to frighten them into compliance with “God’s laws.” Many negative thoughts about Vowell’s style have already been voiced, although some have cushioned it by calling it “refreshing” or “unique.” Let me say I loved it. For twenty pages. Then it began to wear on me, as I suppose any technique for showcasing 17^th century nonseparatist Christians would. However, for the beginning part of this book I found myself back in World History class. Her explanation on page 6 for the birth and development of the Protestant Reformation was a throwback to Munford’s comments on the ludicrousness of the whole process and motivation. I could feel her sarcasm and hear his gruff voice as I read an attitude very similar to that of Mr. Munford. Although it isn’t known if the indulgences and vestments of King Henry VIII did succeed in getting “devout” (rich) Protestants into Heaven, it separated these phonies from the true, albeit fanatical, Puritans.