Anne Hutchinson Religion

Analysis Paper #1 Religion was an important part of the colonization of America. It became a huge part of the lives of the colonists and continued to grow over time. When the settlers came to America, they came with the dream of religious freedom and to escape the persecutions taking place in their own countries. Ironically enough, the very persecution they were trying to escape began happening in their own colonies. Some nonconformists were banished by the courts and even imprisoned for not adhering to the ways of the chosen religion. The visions of religious freedom for the colonists was then met by many challenges and the region was thrown into a period of transition. It was not until the First Great Awakening that the need for revolutionary …show more content…
Due to the Anglican church retaining too much Catholicism, the Puritans started their own religion and within such religion came very defined, strict rules. In result of these strict rules, the Puritans became very intolerant of anyone who did not adhere to the Puritan way and this resulted in desperate acts of persecution, such as the trial of Anne Hutchinson. Hutchinson was a very outspoken, intelligent woman who lost the approval of the Puritans because of her ideas. In the meetings held after church by Hutchinson, she would share her interpretation of the past sermons and would criticize the works of the preachers. This behavior was unacceptable not only as a member of society but as a woman. Hutchinson was then considered to be a severe threat to both church and government authority. She was sent to trial but argued her case very well, and the court had little with which to charge her since she was so careful with her words to avoid heresy. However, the outcome was already decided. At the end of the trial, Hutchinson challenged the court by claiming that God would punish them if they punished her– an opposite view from Winthrop who believed the court and colony were at risk of God's wrath if they did not punish Hutchinson. This statement claimed by Hutchinson was documented in The Trial of Anne Hutchinson, “if you go on in this course you begin, you will bring a curse upon you …show more content…
The churches were faced with a crisis and in turn proposed a more relaxed set of rules known as the Halfway Covenant. This lethargic way of practicing their religion lasted until the early 1700s. In the document The Peril in the Times Displayed, Samuel Willard explains the issue that, “if the power of Godliness be lost in the present Generation and Religion among them is dwindled up to an empty formality there is no thing that doth more fearfully forebode the expiration of it in those that follow.” His message was that as time goes on, there will be so little faith that the religion itself would