Some people think that Satan or the Devil are just other names for hell. The people of Salem, Massachusetts both agreed and disagreed.
The religion of Salem is Calvinism. People in Salem believe that they are born into the world where God has already decided where they belong in the after-life. Like the Bible says people thought that witches were working with the devil so they burned and killed every person accused. Witchcraft is a serious crime punishable by death or imprisonment. The people no longer wanted death penalties, but unlike Salem, Massachusetts, England, and Scotland chose not to have that law apply to their own government.
Satan can be called by many names but a lot of people know him as the Devil. This creature’s actual name, as some people believe, is Lucifer. Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven because he rebelled against God. God condemned Lucifer to Hell. Later Lucifer became known as the Devil or Satan. Witches are people who are believed to be working with Lucifer.
Religion had a big role in how and why people believe in witches and witchcraft. A person’s beliefs cause them to forget and not see what is really going on. When the girls were told witch stories by a slave, they began acting strangely and accusing people of witchcraft, people believed it right away because they were afraid of living their afterlife in Hell and they wanted to obey God. People who had a different religion or belief, or not a church member, seemed to be accused more easily, because those people neither believed in the same beliefs that the church members did or were not trusted as much as the members of the church.
In order for a person to become a church member, the person had to go through a spiritual experience where the person would have to hope that that was a sign of God’s acceptance into heaven. Fortunately at the end of the 1600s all it took to become a member of the church was to be on good behavior. Good behavior means keeping watch on your neighbors to see whether or not they were witches or whether they were worshiping the Devil and going against God. It is a terrible invasion of privacy for some but people were self conscious about themselves and their surroundings.
Church attendance is important because people are not suspicious as a church-goer as a person who does not attend church for reasons of non believers.The minister held most of the power because people believed that he alone could communicate with God. The people did not like others who did not follow the same religion and beliefs as they do.
Strangely though, people believed that whoever was accused of working with the Devil could not say the Lord’s Prayer. A man accused of witchcraft named George Burroughs was able to say the Lord’s Prayer word for word before he was hanged but unfortunately he was hung anyways. Although people in Salem are all about having good behavior some do not have good sense. When the people went to church they were arranged my social level and wealth level. The wealthy and higher social level sat in the front and the children, slaves and servants sat in the back. They also divided it by gender. Only the men could vote on church matters.
Being accused of witchcraft towards the end of the 1600s can be difficult because people will go straight to believing the accusers rather than getting to the answer. Religion, their main reason for being in Salem, Massachusetts, has caused a greater problem then it did in England. People move from England to be free of the governments grasp on their own beliefs. They do not like to be bossed around or told what to believe in and what not to believe in. These people sailed to Salem, Massachusetts hoping they would find a better life there because no one would be telling them what to do. The people got what they wanted but they also began not trusting each other because of little girls who were told stories by their father’s slave. Those girls caused one of the most tragic stories in America because twenty-four innocent men and women died falsely accused. The people’s ignorance blinded by their be.
By Tiffany L.
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I have found a very interesting article related to Salem of 1693, containing many facts about the Salem of that time, and this note above is just one of them.
As someone who loves witches, witchcraft and Salem, that was really great for me, so much I bookmarked the page to keep reading later and always refer.
Here is the original article, and you guys will also find a lot of stuff: http://people.ucls.uchicago.edu/~snekros/The%20Salem%20Times/The_Salem_Times_of_1693/Culture_%26_Beliefs.html
