The Modern Puritan

                  
                      The Modern Puritan 
     The Puritans were a group of people who strictly followed their religious beliefs and rules set by their society. In the puritan society, anyone who broke the rules or was believed to have "danced with the devil" was punished or killed. Today there are many groups that have the same mentality as the puritan groups did. The gangs of today are a great example of a group that acts similar to the puritans.
   In the puritans eyes their main enemy was the devil. They resented the devil and anyone who had anything to do with him. If you were to worship the devil or try to conjure spirits you were betraying your religion. If you were caught, you would most likely be killed. When your in a gang your main enemies are other gangs and of course the police. To a gang one of the worst things you could be is a snitch and that applies even if your not part of the gang. To pay for their betrayal, snitches are often killed and their death is used to warn others not to snitch. Even if you arent killed for this betrayal you will be stuck with this label for the rest of your life and you will lose the respect of everyone around you (This is very similar to what happened to Hester with her scarlet letter). So basically any puritan who is a traitor to their religion or any gang member who is a traitor to their gang is ousted by their peers.
Another similarity between the members of the two groups is that they like to show respect for their groups beliefs. If your a puritan you show your respect by going to church every sunday and knowing biblical material. If your a member of a gang you show respect for your gang by wearing certain colors, using signs and dressing a certain way.
  These two groups are a lot alike because they both have strict policies that they abide by. Anyone who disobeys these policies are killed or rejected from the group. So if your a witch or a snitch you probably wouldn't last too long in these groups.