Create an essay of at least 5-6 paragraphs including the issues below.
As you reflect on the hypothetical situation or scenario given in the video Can You Imagine? (10:26) , take notes on your own thoughts and ideas about the choices you might make.
Then consider how the scenario given is similar in choices presented to the dilemma that the Pilgrims (and Puritans) faced on whether or not to leave their homes in England to move to Holland and eventually go to the New World to set up a colony there. Obviously, our fact pattern has some differences from the Pilgrims’ situation. It was created to depict life here on a college campus in the 2000’s so there are differences. Also, we live in a world that has experienced totalitarian regimes of massive size. Think of Stalin’s Russia, Hitler’s Germany, and Mao’s China. These are just three; unfortunately, there are so many more.
Even though England’s monarchs pale in comparison to the monstrous regimes of the 20th century, the Pilgrims faced the possibility of physical torture, impoverishment, and death if they stayed in England and refused to violate their own beliefs. The theological differences were huge and they had implications for personal freedom that went far beyond their place of worship. Remember that the law required church attendance in the Church of England or exile. In a strange twist the crown refused to allow them to leave.
(It is important to note that the history of religious strife in England swung back and forth. At times Catholics were persecuted and at times Protestants. Then there were times when anyone who opposed the Church of England was persecuted.)
It might help to remember the horrible definition of a Puritan given in the reading as “a Protestant who is flayed out of his mind.” (Make sure you know what flayed means.) Also, the scenes of martyrdom are instructive. The tyranny was not consistent, but then that is how tyranny usually is.
The point is to try and see how devastating and how desperate their situation was. Yet, even as I write this I think they would respond quite emphatically that they were never desperate as they followed God and were sure that He would take care of them in this world or the next.
Not every infraction is punished, but the population never knows when or where the horror will come. That fear enables a government to subdue its dissenters for a while.
Be sure to include a paragraph on what you might choose or how you might choose to respond to the dilemma in the video.
You can see that the issues that are arising in our texts are still very much alive today.
Watch video linked above. If you have already watched it and made notes then you are ahead of this part! Then answer the question posed in the last few sentences.
Read Intro to Puritans and Pilgrims Part I and Intro to Puritans and Pilgrims Part 2