Literature

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The text that contains the commonly held dark side, the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans: Witch-hunts, elitism, intolerance and narrow-minded zealotry is that of Cotton Mather: From the Wonders of the Invisible World. Cotton had various beliefs, and he saw the witches as tools of the devil. According to Cotton, the witches were not possessed by the spirits, but they were the agents of the devil and that they were sent as divine judgment to the sinful people to punish them for their sins. Cotton was of the belief also that sin and witches were to be destroyed before the Puritans could fulfill their destiny as the people of god and help clean the sins out of the people. It was also believed that once the Puritans had got rid of the witches and sins, god would bless them with eternal happiness.

Cotton describes the original Puritan settlers of the New England as pious that they were free of sins. He further states that the settlers were willing to give up civilization for them to live a pure land that was free from all sins. Mather in contrast also noted that the youth were morally corrupt and were prone to evil. Among the quotes by Mather is that of “The New Englanders are people of god settled in those, which were once the devil’s territories.” From the quote, we can see how the Puritans discriminated against the indigenous people.

The issue of ethnocentrism is much evident in that Cotton considered his culture and belief to be more superior and looked down on the indigenous cultures and religion terming it to be evil. In another quote, Mather discussed the plans by the devil to overturn the plantation and the churches with the aid of the witches,”…An army of devils is broke in upon the place which is the center, and after a sort, the first-born of our English settlements…” It is too unfortunate that the Puritan values and ways of lives have been carried over into our generation in that people still believe that witchcraft is associated with evil. Besides, ethnocentrism is more evident in today’s generation with most of the people looking down upon the cultures and religion of others while they consider theirs as superior.

Reference

Mather, C. (1862). The wonders of the invisible world: Being an account of the tryals of several witches lately executed in New-England. Smith.