Witch Hunt Hottie

I'm nearing completion of a very fascinating book: Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall, by Eve Laplante. What's fascinating about this book is simply this . . . it informs me of a little-known episode following a very famous episode in American history.

Essentially, following the Salem Witch trials of the 1600's, after which 20 people (predominantly women) were condemned to die a witch's death, the presiding judge in the cases, Samuel Sewall, a devout Puritan, publicly repented of his role in the deaths of these innocent people and completely changed his life. Sewall became one of the first advocates, for example, speaking out for the equality of native Americans during a time when tensions between Puritans and Native Americans was leaning toward the King Philip's War (still the bloodiest campaign on American soil on a per/capita basis).

Sewall also advocated against the slave trade, was one of the first to lobby for the equality of women in the Puritan churches, and, essentially, saw the light of reason in a time when religious persuasions darkened even the best of minds and stirred the fears of the masses.

I actually ended up liking this guy.

But I'm still reminded of the old joke even after reading this book. "What is a Puritan?"

Answer: A Puritan was a person who was extremely bothered by the very thought that someone, somewhere, might be having a good time.

Those Puritans loved to sing, but other than that, they were a rather droll bunch who couldn't tolerate any other beliefs or practices other than their own. That's really our American religious heritage in a nutshell. Puritans/Pilgrims, Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Quakers--none of these people in early American life could tolerate the others, and they would just as soon have killed each other to be forced to live next to someone of a different persuasion. Our early history is rife with these hatreds (not tolerance) but Old Samuel Sewall was way ahead of his time.

He just said, "Screw the establishment. I'm going to admit my sins, see others as children of God, regardless of their belief, origin, race or kindred, and I'm going to live in the public square touting my tolerance and protection of others, even if they are much different than I am."

Way ahead of his time, Old Sam. He just grew weary of the hatreds and religious bigotry of his time and he said, "I'm getting off the merry-go-round."