In 1620, a group of English families landed on Massachusetts BayA bay in the north-eastern United States that is mostly in the state of Massachusetts.¹. Some 102 people had been living together for weeks on a ship only 30m long, the MayflowerThe ship on which the first Puritan settlers, now often known as the Pilgrim Fathers, arrived. Some US families are proud to trace their ancestry all the way back to this first voyage.. The group formed a settlement they named Plymouth.

The settlers were PuritansA Protestant movement that wanted to return Christianity to its early, "pure" spirit, getting rid of the pomp and splendour of the Catholic Church. They banned gambling, adultery, fancy clothes, living with Native Americans, smoking in public, and celebrating Christmas., a religious sect that wanted to "purify" England of its Roman CatholicThe world's largest Christian Church, with 1.3 billion members. In the 16th and 17th Centuries it came under attack from reformers who accused it of corruption and set up their own Churches. elements and bring it in line with hardline ProtestantismThe umbrella term for a wide variety of movements that trace their roots to a schism in the Catholic Church in the early 16th Century. Protestants are united by a number of core beliefs, but there is much diversity among its movements.. Today, a debate rages over their motives moving to America. 

Traditionally, it was argued they wanted religious freedom. However, many have argued they only wanted that freedom for themselves, not others. The Puritans have become a byword for self-righteousness and intolerance of argument.

Now one author thinks Puritans are with us in spirit. In a new book, comedian Andrew Doyle argues they have found a home in the modern left.

He claims the left sees political differences as moral ones. If someone disagrees, they are not merely wrong, but evil. 

He likens so-called "cancel culture" to the religious fundamentalists in Arthur MillerThe US playwright wrote The Crucible in 1953 as a political commentary on the fear and paranoia of 20th-Century politics.'s play The CrucibleOne of Arthur Miller's most famous plays. He wrote it as a satire on the McCarthy Trials that were at that time forcing many American leftists out of public life., based on the Salem Witch TrialsA series of hearings held in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693 in response to a moral panic about witchcraft. More than 200 people were accused and 19 executed.. In the play, a community is caught up in a fervour for finding witches, and innocent people are killed. This kind of atmosphere, Doyle claims, stifles debate.

The writer Julie Burchill agrees. "Once it was the religious fanatics who sucked all the fun out of life," she writes. "Today it's joyless young social justice warriors."

But, some counter, political differences can be moral ones. If one of our friends is being victimised by a racist, sexist or homophobic bully, we have a duty to support them and call out the bully. Why should it be different when the nastiness is dressed up as "political difference"?

Indeed, some think it is the anti-"woke" who are the true Puritans. They point out that critics like Doyle never engage with left-wing ideas. Instead, they complain about the "culture" surrounding these ideas. 

But others suggest there are worse things than being a Puritan. Historically, puritans believed in education, because they wanted their children to be able to read the Bible. Some founded Oxbridge colleges.

They gave rise to Protestant evangelicalismA branch of Protestantism that stresses the experience of being "born again" and spreading Christianity to others. In the USA it has been the driving force of a powerful right-wing movement., one of the most successful religious and political movements of the modern era. All in all, some say, the Puritans are quite a good example to follow.

Yes: There is a certain subset of people who treat their political views like a faith. They are very prominent on social media and they have been known to hound people out of their jobs.

No: The left is only intolerant of intolerant people: those who are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic. If it is a choice between tolerance for the intolerant and tolerance for the marginalised, we should opt for the latter.

Or...Social media brings out the worst sides of any community. Right-wingers are just as toxic online as the left. This is a problem with online culture, not with any one political movement.