Puritanism

"Puritan" is a term most commonly applied to English Christians who became dissatisfied with the state of the Church of England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Rather than being a single defined movement, it was composed of many groups of individuals who had differing opinions on what in particular was wrong with the established national church. In general, however, those who were termed Puritans believed that the Church of England had become corrupted by its entanglement with politics, particularly the English monarchy, as well as its adoption of Roman Catholic traditions; they believed it was necessary to "purify" the Church's practices and ceremonies to return to a less elaborate form of worship endorsed in the Bible. The term "Puritan" was originally applied by supporters of the Church of England as an insult, with the label "Dissenter" more commonly being used by members of this religious minority...