Gilbert Keith Chesterton Quote - Liberty Quotes Blog

"A puritan is a person
who pours righteous indignation
into the wrong things."

by:	Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) British essayist, critic, poet, and novelist
Rating:
Categories:	Morals, Religion, Tolerance, Agnostic
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Reader comments about this quote:

I don't know a puritan, so I can't say. -- Mike, Norwalk
Purtitans get a bum rap. Read "The Religious History of the American People" by Ahlstrom, Princeton Univ Press. The Puritans established a thriving highly educated and motivated society in Mass in a short span of 50 odd years that became a model for an expanding nation. New England and the Puritan experience is know throughout the world as a noble experience in theology, philosophy, education, democracy, etcetera. (Let us momentarily forget the unpleasantness at Salem, which was an aberration.) -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas
Yes, and witch hunts are as popular today as they were then. Today's puritans are no better. Collective absolutism of any kind is dangerous. -- E Archer, NYC
Good answer Mike but from what I have read I rate it five. I don't think Puritans exist today like they did in the 16th and 17th cen. Though I am beginning to wonder. -- RobertSRQ
The institutional descendants of the Puritans are the United Church of Christ and the Unitarians. The United Church of Christ was formed by a uniting of the Congreational Churches and some other smaller Reformed Churches. If you look at a UCC Hymnal it says printed by the Pilgrim Press. -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas
I think Puritanism is alive and well- in the USA---in full witch hunt mode (with any respect due...) in the form of the Southern Baptist Convention and other groups. Read "American Theocracy" by Kevin Phillips... -- Anonymous