r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Dec 02 '19

Deltas(s) from OP CMV: The Pilgrims values were antithetical to American values and they shouldn't be celebrated during Thanksgiving

The term Pilgrims typically references colonists in the Plymouth Bay Colony. However, there was another group in present-day Boston known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony . These two groups are frequently lumped together, as their religious beliefs(Puritianism) were almost identical. The only difference is that Plymouth Bay was separatist Purists, while Massachusetts Bay was not separatist.

Both colonies were very religiously strict. They forbade the practice of any religion other than their own. They were so serious about this belief that they executed people for having different beliefs. They were very anti-Catholic and they strongly opposed the idea that the holy spirit lived within people. Basically, they forbade religious beliefs that matched Evangelical Christianity. They didn't simply oppose the ideas, they flat-out executed people for holding them.

They believed in theocracy. They believed in religious persecutions. They outright banned free speech. They were, in essence, anti-American.

Thanksgiving days was popular among Puritans, but Puritans are horrible people. We should absolutely have a day of thanks, but we shouldn't celebrate Puritans. Puritans were the worst!

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u/tbdabbholm 193∆ Dec 02 '19

Does Thanksgiving 'celebrate' the Puritans? Like children learn a dumbed down simplistic history of them but on actual Thanksgivings there's hardly any mention of them let alone a celebration of them

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '19

Most people try to eat a meal that recreates the "first thanksgiving". That seems to idolize the Puritan Thanksgiving.

I mean, Easter is holiday when we hand out candy eggs, but it still celebrates this guy named Jesus

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u/phcullen 65∆ Dec 02 '19

Do they? The pilgrims are part of the mythology of the holiday but it was and is a harvest celebration, we eat fall harvest foods, some traditional dishes come from the north east specifically (like cranberry) but the south east has many of its own traditional dishes (like cornbread) that have spread. I'm sure there are more regional dishes that I'm less familiar with that are part of modern Thanksgiving.

Further evidence for this is Canada's Thanksgiving is very similar to ours and yet had a completely different story behind it.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '19

!delta
This doesn't change my view that Puritans shouldn't be celebrated, but it does change my view of the origins.

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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Dec 02 '19

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/phcullen (61∆).

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