America has a history that has been dark and disturbing at times. People have been oppressed and persecuted for their beliefs, their religion, their color, and their sex. It is sometimes hard for young people to understand or appreciate the significance and importance of remembering our past. One such dark time occurred during the sixteen hundreds in Massachusetts. Cotton Mather was a leading Puritan religious leader who was responsible for many positive scientific advances, but is primarily remembered as a leading proponent of the dangers of witchcraft.
In one of his most famous works, "Memorable Providence", he recounts a disturbing episode involving a local mason. This individual called on him because he did not know what was happening with his children. They were suddenly complaining of severe pain and would burst into unexpected wails of distress. The minister looked into the matter and concluded that a washerwoman was to blame for demonizing them.
Today we have advanced methods for determining mental illness that were not known in the late sixteen hundreds. Massachusetts Puritans considered impure thoughts and actions responsible for any behavior that did not coincide with their beliefs. They lost all tolerance for individual expression and were quick to judge.
By the time the Salem witch trials got underway, hundreds of people, predominantly women, were accused or under suspicion. It became a way to settle old scores between rivals and feuding family members. They would simply accuse someone of being a witch and then watch as the rest of the town turned on that person. Many even believed smallpox infection was the result of devil worship.
The situation got so heated that many believed the pets of the accused could be affected by demons, which resulted in a number of dogs, cats, and other animals being killed for their association with so called witches. Any skin blemishes could be construed as the devil's work. Something as common as freckles was considered evidence of evil doing.
At the end of these trials, a total of twenty people were either hanged or stoned to death. Most of these were women. Some who escaped the death penalty died in prison while others were pardoned or escaped. George Burroughs, an ex-minister and one of those convicted, stunned the villagers who had come to see him hang when he recited the entire Lord's Prayer on the scaffolding. A witch would have been unable to do that, but against the pleas of the crowd, Mather urged the authorities to complete the sentence.
It is interesting to note that all the women who confessed to being witches survived and those who refused to plead guilty were put to death. In later years, as accused survivors began to recant their guilty admissions, Mather had doubts about some of his actions. He attempted to minimize his involvement, but history remembers differently.
If we don't want history to repeat itself, we have to understand and learn from it. Today we see many signs of religious and racial intolerance that have begun to mirror the times of the Salem witch trials. What was wrong about the thinking and behavior then is just as wrong today.
In one of his most famous works, "Memorable Providence", he recounts a disturbing episode involving a local mason. This individual called on him because he did not know what was happening with his children. They were suddenly complaining of severe pain and would burst into unexpected wails of distress. The minister looked into the matter and concluded that a washerwoman was to blame for demonizing them.
Today we have advanced methods for determining mental illness that were not known in the late sixteen hundreds. Massachusetts Puritans considered impure thoughts and actions responsible for any behavior that did not coincide with their beliefs. They lost all tolerance for individual expression and were quick to judge.
By the time the Salem witch trials got underway, hundreds of people, predominantly women, were accused or under suspicion. It became a way to settle old scores between rivals and feuding family members. They would simply accuse someone of being a witch and then watch as the rest of the town turned on that person. Many even believed smallpox infection was the result of devil worship.
The situation got so heated that many believed the pets of the accused could be affected by demons, which resulted in a number of dogs, cats, and other animals being killed for their association with so called witches. Any skin blemishes could be construed as the devil's work. Something as common as freckles was considered evidence of evil doing.
At the end of these trials, a total of twenty people were either hanged or stoned to death. Most of these were women. Some who escaped the death penalty died in prison while others were pardoned or escaped. George Burroughs, an ex-minister and one of those convicted, stunned the villagers who had come to see him hang when he recited the entire Lord's Prayer on the scaffolding. A witch would have been unable to do that, but against the pleas of the crowd, Mather urged the authorities to complete the sentence.
It is interesting to note that all the women who confessed to being witches survived and those who refused to plead guilty were put to death. In later years, as accused survivors began to recant their guilty admissions, Mather had doubts about some of his actions. He attempted to minimize his involvement, but history remembers differently.
If we don't want history to repeat itself, we have to understand and learn from it. Today we see many signs of religious and racial intolerance that have begun to mirror the times of the Salem witch trials. What was wrong about the thinking and behavior then is just as wrong today.
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