Importance of Religion to the Human Population

Religion is and always has been very important to the human population as a whole. It is the groundwork of society in that it controls the way that people think and act. This idea of the impact of religion on society can be displayed through the English colonial developments of the New England and Middle Colony regions. The colonies in these two regions were founded for the purpose of religious freedom rather than some of the other colonies such as the ones in the Chesapeake area that were began in hope of finding a profit. The New Englanders settled in North America not for economic purposes, but for spiritual ones. The founders were puritans and separatists who were fed up with the Church of England. These two groups were similar in their concern over the Church of England, but the separatists wanted to break away from the Anglican Church, while the puritans just wanted to purify it or make it better, but as the religious persecutions worsened for both of these groups, England was no longer a place for either of them. The move began when a group of non-separatist puritans got a charter from the king to form the Massachusetts Bay Company and embarked on a voyage to North America. They set foot on the “New World” and sprung up what turned into the the New England colonies. After settling in the New World, the people of New England tried to live a pure and Christian life. They wanted to bring about the “Kingdom of Heaven” as seen in the Bible, and they thought that creating a “perfect” society would be the way to do that. The puritans tried their best to transfer this ideology into policy by creating strict laws that governed basically every part of the citizens’ lives. These laws, being enforced through a process of public shaming and humiliation really helped create a society that was known for diligent labor, strong morals, and charity. One might think that because of their escape from religious toleration, the New Englanders would be open to the idea of