Hello,
I have found Twitter post about thread's title. It's by @LudwigNverMises.
Full post:
Puritans settlers are casually mentally associated with fundamentalist Christianity, funny hats and witch burnings.
However, the culture founded by these early Puritans, spread throughout the US and dominates the most powerful and progressive areas of the country today.
These original Puritan colonists came from a few predominantly Calvinist counties in Southeastern England. Specifically, Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
Puritan was a general term for those who wanted to purify the Church of England of its Catholic elements around the time of the English Civil War of 1640.
The most extreme of these reformers were heavily influenced by Calvinist theology and referred to as “High Calvinists.”
They did not want to reform the church to be more tolerant like the moderate Congregationalists or Presbyterian Protestants.
They were not separatists like the Baptists, who wanted complete autonomy for local churches. They wanted to purify or replace the church of England with their own supreme doctrine.
The Massachusetts bay colonists fleeing in the decades before the Civil War were among the most committed of the “High Calvinists.”
Unable to replace the Church of England, they fled to establish their own Theocracy, with no blackjack and hookers, so to speak.
They did not settle in a known colony, but moved whole communities to largely unoccupied lands, so they could more perfectly impose their ideology within a tightly controlled polity, free of other mitigating influences or competitors.
They were the first significant migration from England to North America, dwarfing the previous Jamestown settlement, which took half a century to sustain 1000 people.
Following behind a vanguard of 17 ships, the first wave in 1630 included more than 200 ships carrying approximately 21,000 people.
Heavy immigration continued until England's civil war a decade later. Each couple had around 10 children a year with a near 100% survival rate. This assured a significant and lasting impact on America's culture.
Their English puritan predecessors, like them, burned more witches than any other part of England. They also shared a university culture, dominating the University of Cambridge and later establishing Harvard in 1636.
Harvard's early curriculum emphasized theology, and its graduates played a significant role in shaping American culture, politics and education, becoming the model for New England’s Ivy League hub.
Classic studies were introduced later on to maintain the Universities' relevance, only to be taken out again hundreds of years later by ardent progressives claiming its studies were a product of white patriarchal supremacy.
It is no surprise these universities have stayed in ideological lockstep with the evolution of progressivism, considering their shared puritan heritage.
Woodrow Wilson, the first progressive president, was an ardent Calvinist, a university professor and the president of Princeton.
He instilled the income tax, the Federal Reserve and got the US involved in WW1.
Around the same time, our modern regulatory bureaucracy was emerging out of the expanded federal powers granted by the interstate commerce commission formed in 1887.
The fact that Ivy League graduates are selected to run the machinery of government, finance, media and industry has accelerated the influence of this cultural group across the country.
While the modern left does not use explicitly Christian language, they carry forward the narrow ideological interpretation of Christianity held by the most extreme Puritans.
Despite the passing of centuries, the Puritan emphasis on collective action, education, lack of tolerance for breaking with orthodoxy, predeterminism, egalitarianism and justice remain cornerstones of modern progressive ideology.
Here is a breakdown of some of their overlapping core values.
Collective Action: Puritans emphasized the importance of community involvement; they employed price controls and strict regulations to enforce their idea of the collective good.
Modern progressives place a strong focus on community organizing and advocate for collective action to address social and economic issues through government programs and public policy.
The puritans' disdain for individual excess or diversity of clothing can be reflected in the modern left's rejection of consumerism, exemplified by Bernie Sanders'
Statement that “You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers.”
Public Education: Puritans believed that education should be focused on developing moral character as well as knowledge and made it compulsory as a means of improving society.
Progressives use control of the education system to instill their social narrative and advocate for free education for all, from early childhood to higher education.
Intolerance: Puritans were notorious for their intolerance towards opposing religious views, resulting in the persecution of those deemed heretics.
Similarly, progressives have demonstrated intolerance towards opposing views, often attempting to silence, de-bank or ostracize those who hold differing opinions on key issues.
The separation of church and state originally referred to a rejection of the type of theocracy advocated for by the Calvinists. Today, it is misconstrued as meaning a separation of religious values and politics, which is impossible.
Modern progressives use the concept to exclude so-called religious voices from public spaces like schools, so they can enforce their own morality.
Both argued against persecution as the minority but practiced intolerance when in power. Neither have a sense of humor.
Moral Obligation: Puritans believed in the importance of living what they deemed a morally upright life in order to promote the common good.
Progressives often frame policy debates in terms of collective moral obligations, such as the need to protect the most vulnerable members of society or to address climate change as a moral imperative.
Predeterminism: They believed that god had already determined one's fate, human actions were not the primary factor in achieving salvation. This led to a focus on community and social responsibility rather than individual agency.
Modern progressives carried forward this ethos of predeterminism with a materialist focus on the idea that “Every choice depends on a lot of biological, social and personal conditions that you cannot determine for yourself.” - Yuval Harrari
Egalitarianism: The Calvinist colonists came from the most economically equal parts of England and extended that trend further in the colonies.
A study of 25 Massachusetts towns from 1630-1750 showed that throughout most of that period the “top tenth of wealth holders held only about 20-30% of taxable property.”
They also stressed collective ownership between husband and wife. Achieving total equality, whether economic or identity based, is the northern star of modern Progressives, reflecting this egalitarian ethos.
The original US abolitionist and suffrage movements relied on arguments based on individual rights for all rather than the progressive value of equality between groups, which is accelerating identity-based tension today.
Social Justice: Puritans believed strongly in justice and were particularly known for their emphasis on judgment as being an act of god's love.
They stressed the importance of discernment, which involved distinguishing between right and wrong, and identifying sin in themselves and others.
This discernment was seen as a loving act, as it helped to promote moral purity and correct error.
While modern progressives don’t use explicitly Christian language, the importance of identifying sin in others is reflected in progressives' tendency to report on fellow citizens for violations of Covid mandates or their love to cancel culture.
The modern left also emphasizes social justice (justice) and accountability (judgment) as being rooted in love. With corporate “Justice Equity Diversity” consultants describing accountability as being “the love language of social change.”
Conclusion
There are also broad cultural differences but filtering the values through modern norms produces similar results.
These ties can be traced back further. Those same counties were one of the earliest and most thoroughly Anglo-Saxonized areas of England, with East Anglia serving as the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom.
The modern day regions of Saxony, Thuringia and Franconia, which are part of the past territory controlled by Saxons in eastern and central Germany, adopted similar forms of Protestantism and politics to their Saxon cousins in England.
Calvinism is the closest English denomination to Lutheran doctrine.
Martin Luther was born in Saxony.
The Saxon princes were strong supporters of Lutheranism and the University of Wittenberg, founded in 1502, which became a hub of Lutheran scholarship.
It is no coincidence that the first Marxist political party, the Social Democratic Workers Party, was also founded in Saxony in 1869, or that the historically Calvinist East Anglia votes for the Labour Party to this day.
Not all of these values are negative in their proper context.
However, the next time a progressive mocks Christian values in connection to puritanism, make sure to remind them that the most extreme puritans' narrow ideological interpretation of the religion they hate is their own legacy.
No one is truly secular, and just like their Calvinist predecessors they are trying to use the machinery of the state to impose their singular vision.
I have found Twitter post about thread's title. It's by @LudwigNverMises.
Full post:
Puritans settlers are casually mentally associated with fundamentalist Christianity, funny hats and witch burnings.
However, the culture founded by these early Puritans, spread throughout the US and dominates the most powerful and progressive areas of the country today.
These original Puritan colonists came from a few predominantly Calvinist counties in Southeastern England. Specifically, Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
Puritan was a general term for those who wanted to purify the Church of England of its Catholic elements around the time of the English Civil War of 1640.
The most extreme of these reformers were heavily influenced by Calvinist theology and referred to as “High Calvinists.”
They did not want to reform the church to be more tolerant like the moderate Congregationalists or Presbyterian Protestants.
They were not separatists like the Baptists, who wanted complete autonomy for local churches. They wanted to purify or replace the church of England with their own supreme doctrine.
The Massachusetts bay colonists fleeing in the decades before the Civil War were among the most committed of the “High Calvinists.”
Unable to replace the Church of England, they fled to establish their own Theocracy, with no blackjack and hookers, so to speak.
They did not settle in a known colony, but moved whole communities to largely unoccupied lands, so they could more perfectly impose their ideology within a tightly controlled polity, free of other mitigating influences or competitors.
They were the first significant migration from England to North America, dwarfing the previous Jamestown settlement, which took half a century to sustain 1000 people.
Following behind a vanguard of 17 ships, the first wave in 1630 included more than 200 ships carrying approximately 21,000 people.
Heavy immigration continued until England's civil war a decade later. Each couple had around 10 children a year with a near 100% survival rate. This assured a significant and lasting impact on America's culture.
Their English puritan predecessors, like them, burned more witches than any other part of England. They also shared a university culture, dominating the University of Cambridge and later establishing Harvard in 1636.
Harvard's early curriculum emphasized theology, and its graduates played a significant role in shaping American culture, politics and education, becoming the model for New England’s Ivy League hub.
Classic studies were introduced later on to maintain the Universities' relevance, only to be taken out again hundreds of years later by ardent progressives claiming its studies were a product of white patriarchal supremacy.
It is no surprise these universities have stayed in ideological lockstep with the evolution of progressivism, considering their shared puritan heritage.
Woodrow Wilson, the first progressive president, was an ardent Calvinist, a university professor and the president of Princeton.
He instilled the income tax, the Federal Reserve and got the US involved in WW1.
Around the same time, our modern regulatory bureaucracy was emerging out of the expanded federal powers granted by the interstate commerce commission formed in 1887.
The fact that Ivy League graduates are selected to run the machinery of government, finance, media and industry has accelerated the influence of this cultural group across the country.
While the modern left does not use explicitly Christian language, they carry forward the narrow ideological interpretation of Christianity held by the most extreme Puritans.
Despite the passing of centuries, the Puritan emphasis on collective action, education, lack of tolerance for breaking with orthodoxy, predeterminism, egalitarianism and justice remain cornerstones of modern progressive ideology.
Here is a breakdown of some of their overlapping core values.
Collective Action: Puritans emphasized the importance of community involvement; they employed price controls and strict regulations to enforce their idea of the collective good.
Modern progressives place a strong focus on community organizing and advocate for collective action to address social and economic issues through government programs and public policy.
The puritans' disdain for individual excess or diversity of clothing can be reflected in the modern left's rejection of consumerism, exemplified by Bernie Sanders'
Statement that “You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers.”
Public Education: Puritans believed that education should be focused on developing moral character as well as knowledge and made it compulsory as a means of improving society.
Progressives use control of the education system to instill their social narrative and advocate for free education for all, from early childhood to higher education.
Intolerance: Puritans were notorious for their intolerance towards opposing religious views, resulting in the persecution of those deemed heretics.
Similarly, progressives have demonstrated intolerance towards opposing views, often attempting to silence, de-bank or ostracize those who hold differing opinions on key issues.
The separation of church and state originally referred to a rejection of the type of theocracy advocated for by the Calvinists. Today, it is misconstrued as meaning a separation of religious values and politics, which is impossible.
Modern progressives use the concept to exclude so-called religious voices from public spaces like schools, so they can enforce their own morality.
Both argued against persecution as the minority but practiced intolerance when in power. Neither have a sense of humor.
Moral Obligation: Puritans believed in the importance of living what they deemed a morally upright life in order to promote the common good.
Progressives often frame policy debates in terms of collective moral obligations, such as the need to protect the most vulnerable members of society or to address climate change as a moral imperative.
Predeterminism: They believed that god had already determined one's fate, human actions were not the primary factor in achieving salvation. This led to a focus on community and social responsibility rather than individual agency.
Modern progressives carried forward this ethos of predeterminism with a materialist focus on the idea that “Every choice depends on a lot of biological, social and personal conditions that you cannot determine for yourself.” - Yuval Harrari
Egalitarianism: The Calvinist colonists came from the most economically equal parts of England and extended that trend further in the colonies.
A study of 25 Massachusetts towns from 1630-1750 showed that throughout most of that period the “top tenth of wealth holders held only about 20-30% of taxable property.”
They also stressed collective ownership between husband and wife. Achieving total equality, whether economic or identity based, is the northern star of modern Progressives, reflecting this egalitarian ethos.
The original US abolitionist and suffrage movements relied on arguments based on individual rights for all rather than the progressive value of equality between groups, which is accelerating identity-based tension today.
Social Justice: Puritans believed strongly in justice and were particularly known for their emphasis on judgment as being an act of god's love.
They stressed the importance of discernment, which involved distinguishing between right and wrong, and identifying sin in themselves and others.
This discernment was seen as a loving act, as it helped to promote moral purity and correct error.
While modern progressives don’t use explicitly Christian language, the importance of identifying sin in others is reflected in progressives' tendency to report on fellow citizens for violations of Covid mandates or their love to cancel culture.
The modern left also emphasizes social justice (justice) and accountability (judgment) as being rooted in love. With corporate “Justice Equity Diversity” consultants describing accountability as being “the love language of social change.”
Conclusion
There are also broad cultural differences but filtering the values through modern norms produces similar results.
These ties can be traced back further. Those same counties were one of the earliest and most thoroughly Anglo-Saxonized areas of England, with East Anglia serving as the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom.
The modern day regions of Saxony, Thuringia and Franconia, which are part of the past territory controlled by Saxons in eastern and central Germany, adopted similar forms of Protestantism and politics to their Saxon cousins in England.
Calvinism is the closest English denomination to Lutheran doctrine.
Martin Luther was born in Saxony.
The Saxon princes were strong supporters of Lutheranism and the University of Wittenberg, founded in 1502, which became a hub of Lutheran scholarship.
It is no coincidence that the first Marxist political party, the Social Democratic Workers Party, was also founded in Saxony in 1869, or that the historically Calvinist East Anglia votes for the Labour Party to this day.
Not all of these values are negative in their proper context.
However, the next time a progressive mocks Christian values in connection to puritanism, make sure to remind them that the most extreme puritans' narrow ideological interpretation of the religion they hate is their own legacy.
No one is truly secular, and just like their Calvinist predecessors they are trying to use the machinery of the state to impose their singular vision.
