Thursday, April 21, 2011

John Winthrop

John Withrop was the first govenor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. One of the most interesting things I read about him was the pride he took in how he and the people he governed followed the church. When Anne Hutchinson was put in charge of the Boston Church in 1636, she tried to change the position of a church on certain issues that John Winthrop found to be "blasphemous". He fought to have the issues left alone, his fight led to her being excommunicated from the church all together.
Here's the link to one of my sources:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/645737/John-Winthrop

I think that the freedom of religion is one of the most important liberties we can enjoy as Americans. Being a country that is recognized and prided for it's cultural diversity, it's very important that all of the people within to be able to freely express themselves. As we have read in the American Dream so far, the Puritans did come from England to escape religious persicution. I think that that offer should be open today for all that wish to do the same. However there are some problems with the idea of a melting pot. For the most part I feel Americans can be tolerant of other religions, but there are a select few that are very harsh with their beliefs, in that, what they know to be right is the only right answer. Because of these people, often times a whole religion, or even race, can be descriminated against or even feared while a majority of those who practice it just want the same freedoms as other Americans. The freedom of religion also gives the citizen a freedom from religion. We can all pick the God or Gods that we want to believe in, or we can choose to not believe in any God. There should be no reason that a person has to follow a certain religion, or any if they do not want to.

3 comments:

  1. I agree with you on freedom of religion however I disagree about the melting pot comment. I think living in a melting pot helps you to relate to other much people better and enhances your social skills.

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  2. One thing I can appreciate about John Winthrop is his inflexibility to compromise on his beliefs. I think that if your going to stand behind something then you do it with one hundred percent of your commitment and loyalty, and thats just what he did.

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  3. I would rather have the American melting pot rather than Europes Multiculturalism. I agree with Rhonda about the advantages to the melting pot idea, but in order for that idea to work, all groups of people have to become more like what an american.

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