Q:
A: If you mean the group that came here on the Mayflower in 1620, they were not Pilgrims. They were not even really Puritans, they were a splinter group from the real Puritans. They called themselves 'Precisionists'. Their beliefs go back through John Calvin, a French theologian of the 16th Century who developed a branch of Protestantism he called 'Reformed Christianity'. Calvin (and the 'Pilgrims') believed that man is basically stupid and evil and weak. But God picks -some- people, actually very few, that he favors. These people he makes lucky and rich. These are 'the elect'. So if someone is rich, they thought, it was just evidence of God's favor. The Puritans wanted a church made -only- of those God favored. So to join their church you had to be able to testify of something in your life that showed you were favored by God above -normal- people. The Puritan tradition lives on in America today in our worship of wealth, our preoccupation with celebrities, and our feeling that anyone who has a lot of money is a hero, that his wealth shows he is virtuous and wise. Like, say, Donald Trump. 8^)
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