The Pilgrims Were Doomsday Cultists

In October 1621, when the people we now call the Pilgrims gathered for what we now call Thanksgiving, they were undoubtedly eager to continue building their patriarchal theocracy in the hope that Jesus would soon return. In 1630, the first of what we now call Puritans arrived north. Arabella in what became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Pilgrims and Puritans were radical, highly controlled Protestant groups. If they existed today, most Americans would call them cults.

Although these were two different groups with different investors and colonial structures, they were all “ardent Protestants,” as such radicals were called in England. They believed that the end of the world, predicted in the book of Revelation of the New Testament, was inevitable. One of the first ministers of Massachusetts Bay, John Cotton, believed that the apocalypse would come soon after 1655. Cotton's son-in-law Increase Mather, while reluctant to give a specific date, simply said the space battle would happen in the next few years. Inrese's son Cotton Mather, another important minister in Puritan history, believed this would happen in 1697.

“Doomsday,” a long poem published in 1662 about the return of a vengeful Jesus, was so popular in New England that it became the first American bestseller.

Radical Protestants believed, as apocalyptic thinkers always believed, that there were forces of good and evil in the world, the eradication of which was the sole goal of both, and each supernatural side had pursued it since the beginning of time. These early New Englanders wanted to hasten the apocalypse by destroying everything that did not conform to their ever-shrinking notions of righteousness. Whoever was not with them was against them. UCLA historian Carla Gardina Pestana argues that Pilgrim Governor William Bradford “thought that anyone hostile to Plymouth itself risked the wrath of God.”

These groups did not come to the New World in search of religious freedom. In particular, the pilgrims already had freedom of religion in Holland, where they lived for 12 years after fleeing England. Apart from economic motives, they came to America because they did not want to raise their children in a liberal society. They wanted theocracy. They wanted to be able to expel nonconformists and exercise complete control over the culture.

The Puritans wanted the same thing—which is why they hanged Quakers, expelled dissidents, and eventually stopped the practice of questioning and commenting after sermons because, as Cotton Mather wrote, it was “a cause of great discord, vexation, and madness.” Church attendance was mandatory. They made it illegal to disagree with ministers.

Punishment for misdeeds was harsh and intended to humiliate, as in cults. Punishment was also a source of entertainment. During the testing days, taverns in Plymouth opened early. Branding and ear cutting often occurred immediately after the verdict. Some convicts were tied to the back of a cart that carried them around the city and beaten with a whip.

Gossiping, flirting, swearing, smoking, playing ball and any activity on the Sabbath were considered crimes. Absenteeism from church or criticism of the pastor were also punishable. Residents were encouraged to provide each other with information. It was even a crime to interrupt the preacher. Blasphemy required the death penalty.

Discipline in England was also harsh at that time, but in comparison there was almost no crime in New England. There was more than just a culture of punishment in the Pilgrim and Puritan communities; there was a culture of conformity. These were high control groupsThis means that group leaders used community pressure and threats of punishment, ostracism and damnation to regulate the behavior, thoughts and information of residents.

Some of the controlling doctrines and behaviors of the Puritans began immediately, but most of them developed around the 1640s and 1650s, when the founders and elders became determined to preserve what they had built and developed, that is, when they were corrupted by power and refused to give it up. For example, as more members of the congregation gained inner conviction of salvation, ministers feared that their leadership would lose authority. In response they began to preach uncertaintysaying that in fact God saved almost no one, and therefore the inhabitants are unlikely to be among the so-called elect. This shift in doctrine made it virtually impossible to enter a church, which was especially difficult for teenagers whose entire identity was built around the entrance.

Cults and high control groups tend to be the most destructive to children raised in them. In addition to the uncertainty of their status among the rescued, New England children were subjected to fear-based indoctrination and strict discipline. In addition, parents were not advised to pamper their children with love, so as not to spoil them and incline them to wickedness. Scholars who studied the diaries of the Puritans found that the second and third generations showed a significant increase in melancholy, pathological deviations, nervous breakdowns, suicide and insanity during adolescence.

However, in the mid- to late 1800s, the Pilgrims and Puritans became avatars of America's founding—partly because of associations with the new Thanksgiving holiday, and partly, some scholars argue, because the nation struggled to define its identity and distinguish its origins from the slave trade.

I am passionate about painting an accurate portrait of our New England ancestors, as I do in my recent book: Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thoughts Are Driving Americanot only because of the desire for historical accuracy, but also because of the influence of their culture and belief systems on today's United States, which remains largely unrecognized.

Their radical doomsday ideology has not disappeared. This became the basis of American culture. From these amazingly successful colonies we inherited our knee-jerk anti-intellectualism, obsession with self-inquiry, penchant for worshiping the rich, and desire for a strong man to save us from crisis. It's no surprise that the country has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. This hidden influence has also made us a nation of gullible con men, cult leaders and demagogues who encourage us to behave in ways that serve them by pushing the buttons of our unconscious indoctrination. The result is the division and extremism that is currently rampant in our country.

Americans today often wonder “how we got here” as a nation. My answer: Mayflower And Arabella.

Cult thinking is not unique to the United States, but it is more common in the United States for three reasons: our aforementioned ideological heritage from the Pilgrims and Puritans; the first and second Great Awakenings (at the beginning of the 18th century and the turn of the 19th century, respectively), which destroyed the church hierarchy and made it possible for anyone to gain charismatic followers; and the First Amendment, which effectively protects a certain number of frauds, which is a necessary evil in exchange for religious freedom.

Of course, cult thinking doesn't always break out. Sociologists argue that it increases in times of technological revolution, social upheaval and crises. Americans have recently seen social media disrupt traditional communities and are bracing for mass layoffs caused by artificial intelligence. We are facing one of the greatest crises in our nation's history: the chronic instability of most Americans.

From 1975 to 2020 50 trillion dollars moved from the poorest 90 percent of Americans to the richest 1 percent; today that figure is estimated to have reached $60 trillion, a staggering and deliberate redistribution of wealth. Through lobbying, influence, and ever-increasing campaign contributions, our nation's wealthiest members, beginning with the Reagan administration, have lobbied the government to cut taxes on the rich and on corporations, roll back regulations that protect the public from risky corporate behavior, neutral unions that give workers the power to prevent exploitation, and allow corporations to move overseas and leave American workers behind.

People in crisis, such as broke and desperate Americans, turn to cult-like thinking. We have been and will be easy to manipulate. If we want to moderate our national flirtation with the autocracy and extremism ravaging America, we must provide stability—for example, by guaranteeing health care, shelter, food, and social security—for all Americans. And we must turn to each other, not turn away. This Thanksgiving is a good time to start coming to terms with the country's radical cult origins. The consequences continue, and we are all to blame. There is no turning back. Mayflower And Arabella They do not offer return tickets.