Puritans and the Early American Church: The Great Irony

When the Puritans came to American in the early 1600’s, they primarily did so to gain religious freedom. In their home country of England, religious reform was happening but not as quickly or as radically as they hoped. Plus, with the death of Queen Elizabeth, the Puritans saw a great halt to the Protestant reform that she had brought now that King James was ruling both England and Scotland. And so they set out for America, the undiscovered frontier that promised the Puritans a new start and the ability to not only worship exactly how they wanted to, but create a perfect “Puritanical” society.

In today’s terms, the Puritans saw the Church of England becoming too “liberal” and wanted to be able to worship and live in a more conservative society. So they set out for America in order to start a new life with the religious freedoms that they so desired.

In coming to America, the Puritans were very successful in setting up a very organized and prosperous society, as the Puritans were the first to set up many of the institutions in America that continue today. One of those institutions was the church in America.

But sadly, the great irony of the early American church set up by the Puritans is that it became the very institution that they left in England: an intolerant, unforgiving church. They persecuted those who did not fall in line with what they believed and would banish those not only from church life, but from community life as well.

One of my favorite anecdotes that illustrates the extreme conservative nature of the American church under the Puritans was that they would always have table clothes that went all the way to the floor, and here’s why: They knew that tables have legs, just like women have legs. And to look at a woman’s legs lustfully was a sin. So they did not want the legs of the table to incite men’s lust by reminding them of women’s legs, so they would always keep the legs of their tables covered.

The Puritans contributed greatly to the American church in many ways, especially in the early organization and laying a framework for networks of churches to develop. But unfortunately, because of their intolerance of those who believed differently than they did, it create a sense of divisiveness and exclusion which unfortunately has become a trademark of the American church today.