Colonial America
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The organization of the Massachusetts Bay Colony revolved around the guiding principle and belief of its leaders that religious authority overrides civil authority. Men of faith like Cotton Mather refused to tolerate any beliefs or practices in civil society that conflicted with his idea of religion and its superior authority. According to Becker (1915), such a justification and validation stemmed from “the vain and pathetic effort of single-minded men to identify the temporal and spiritual commonwealth” (97). Such attitudes enabled leaders of Colonial America to rationalize and validate social controls that included the prosecution and persecution of those with different beliefs. Such attitudes also necessarily exclude others who do not adhere to the definition of the temporal or spiritual commonwealth defined by such single-minded men. Such attitudes still exist in contemporary America, as evidenced by the intolerance of religion demonstrated in the case brought against Justice Fob James of Alabama. However, the religious intolerance exhibited by leaders of Colonial America was different in tone and tenor than the religious intolerance exhibited by contemporary American leaders in the case against Justice Ray Moore. This is mainly because the former case is one based on fanaticism while the latter case is one based on constitutionality or the supremacy of civil law over religious law.
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ikened the fanatical religious intolerance of 17th century New England with the 1950s McCarthy hearings in a play chronicling the witch hunts of Salem Massachusetts, The Crucible. In contemporary America, civil law and the Constitution are kept separate from religion. Religious authority plays an inferior role to civil authority and is not considered in the eyes of the law. However, men like McCarthy still try to use the superior moral stance of men like Mather when they wish to persecute others. In McCarthy’s case, this imposed superiority painted those who were Communists as the “evil other” much like Mather painted those accused of being witches. In The Crucible, the common sense and honesty of men and women like John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse prove to be no match for the fanaticism of Goody Putnam and Abigail. In Salem, common sense did not prevail as it almost did not during the McCarthy “witch-hunts.” Some refer to Waco, Texas, as a modern day witch-hunt against a religious sect known as the Branch Davidians. In one of the bloodiest raids on U.S. citizens by the government, more than ninety people belonging to the cult and four federal agents were killed in the showdown at the cult’s quarters in Waco. However, despit
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1496
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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