purpledawn writes:
The Pilgrims came to this country to be able to practice their religion freely and not be forced into a specific belief system.
Actually, the New England puritans were strong theocrats. They were extreme religious bigots, and their problem at the time in England was that they were failing to impose their views on everyone else.
After the migration of the New Englanders, the puritans did gain power in England, and started on their persecution of everyone who disagreed with them, including the Quakers. It is at this point that religious refugees like the Quakers start to arrive in large numbers in America.
It was the Puritan persecution and the hanging of the Quaker Boston martyrs that triggered the end of their strict theocracy in New England. They had lost power in England by this time, and the restoration monarchy forced the New Englanders to stop killing Quakers.
To bring this on topic, these "pilgrims" would thoroughly approve of creationism and only creationism being taught in schools. The modern protestant religious right are their natural heirs. The moderns complain of persecution in the same way that the early 17th century puritans did in England.
It's because they are failing to impose their views on the rest of you, not because you're actually persecuting them.