In a world much more advanced than that of the Puritans in the 17th century, the majority of Puritan ideas and rituals may appear unusual and strange, however, several of these ideas helped to shape American culture and identity into how it exists today. Numerous characteristics of modern Americans trace back to the ethics and ideas of the Puritans that first resided in America. In his article “Still Puritan After All These Years”, Matthew Hutson shows the American mind as largely guided by the philosophies of Puritans. An experiment performed with both Americans and Canadians with some test subjects exposed to ideas of salvation resulted in “the Americans — but not the Canadians — [solving] more anagrams with salvation on the mind.” This
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Hutson looked at how Americans, Canadians, and British viewed religion in their lives by viewing the results of the World Values Survey from 2006. The survey proved Americans as most religious when asked to rate “how important God is in their lives, 58 percent of Americans answered 10 out of 10. By comparison, 38 percent of Canadians and 23 percent of British gave that response.” This proves Americans view religion as a bigger part of their lives than residents of other nations do, which Hutson argues as due to their Puritanical background. While arguable that this originates from a different source, Hutson demonstrates in his writing that Purtitanism cleanly marks the difference the biggest difference between Americans and British religious backgrounds. Hutson also points out how Americans respect the self-made man more than one from an aristocratic pedigree, the opposite of most other parts of the world. He argues that this “may be a remnant of the Protestant rejection of church hierarchy and emphasis on a personal relationship with God.” Therefore Americans’ Puritan background still influences the way they view those of upper class. His statement that countries without a Puritan background do not view the self-made man in the same way negates any argument against it. Hutson focuses on how America remains Puritan, …show more content…
Cashill begins by saying, “In a postmodern world that prides itself on ‘non-judgmentalism,’ [nativism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia, racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia] have emerged as the seven new deadly sins, and God help the man, woman, or child who commits one.” He argues that this Neo-Puritanism hurts America by forcing it to retain the old Puritan ethics and ideas, instead of allowing it to expand. Cashill also declares America as experiencing a rise in Neo-Puritanism by judging others purely on their sins. Cashill argues that Neo-Puritanism “shows sinners little mercy and offers them no path to absolution… the sinner is publicly branded with [their] sin.” This reflects back to the Puritan town of Salem, where sinners remained forever branded as witches with no redemption. This differs from most views as the majority would argue that Puritanism has always been a major part of America and not suddenly
Hutson looked at how Americans, Canadians, and British viewed religion in their lives by viewing the results of the World Values Survey from 2006. The survey proved Americans as most religious when asked to rate “how important God is in their lives, 58 percent of Americans answered 10 out of 10. By comparison, 38 percent of Canadians and 23 percent of British gave that response.” This proves Americans view religion as a bigger part of their lives than residents of other nations do, which Hutson argues as due to their Puritanical background. While arguable that this originates from a different source, Hutson demonstrates in his writing that Purtitanism cleanly marks the difference the biggest difference between Americans and British religious backgrounds. Hutson also points out how Americans respect the self-made man more than one from an aristocratic pedigree, the opposite of most other parts of the world. He argues that this “may be a remnant of the Protestant rejection of church hierarchy and emphasis on a personal relationship with God.” Therefore Americans’ Puritan background still influences the way they view those of upper class. His statement that countries without a Puritan background do not view the self-made man in the same way negates any argument against it. Hutson focuses on how America remains Puritan, …show more content…
Cashill begins by saying, “In a postmodern world that prides itself on ‘non-judgmentalism,’ [nativism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia, racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia] have emerged as the seven new deadly sins, and God help the man, woman, or child who commits one.” He argues that this Neo-Puritanism hurts America by forcing it to retain the old Puritan ethics and ideas, instead of allowing it to expand. Cashill also declares America as experiencing a rise in Neo-Puritanism by judging others purely on their sins. Cashill argues that Neo-Puritanism “shows sinners little mercy and offers them no path to absolution… the sinner is publicly branded with [their] sin.” This reflects back to the Puritan town of Salem, where sinners remained forever branded as witches with no redemption. This differs from most views as the majority would argue that Puritanism has always been a major part of America and not suddenly