The Puritans have gotten a bad rap
Mark O'Keefe of Newhouse News Service argues that the Puritans have gotten a bad rap.
The colonizers of New England, credited with the first Thanksgiving, are most often portrayed as drab, glum and pleasure-hating. You have seen the depictions -- religious zealots whose idea of fun was burning a falsely accused witch, or narrow-minded prudes best described by the adjective they spawned: "puritanical." But that image is a false one, scholars say.
Citing various historians, O'Keefe insists that the Puritans enjoyed earthly pleasures like food, drink, sex and games as much as anyone in the 17th century; that their witch trials and killings were no worse than those in Europe; and that they had relatively advanced customs regarding women's rights.
