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Why Did The Salem Witch Trials Happen

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The reason that the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony could condone the acts of genocide that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials is because, while they had set themselves up to be a utopian society, it had not yet happened. Various reasons could have led to their settlement towards not becoming a utopia. The main reason for this is the very origin or the greek word “utopia,” which originally meant “impossible.” Other factors included simpler human concepts such as greed, hatred, and lust. These emotions were all present in the town of Salem, but they were hidden from notice by the towns folks devoutness to their church. This buildup of emotion could not be acted upon because of the towns folks religion; therefore, they had to act upon them through the system of the church. Although they were influenced by an extremely strict religious structure, with their entire purpose to purify the church of England, and having thus far failed to do …show more content…

One of the the main reasons that people argue for why the Salem Witch Trials happened is because of the religion that they worshipped. This argument has merit, because as the Salem Witch Trials Learning Adventure state 's, “Church was the cornerstone of 17th century life in New England” (Salem Witch Trials - Learning Adventures). During this time, it was illegal to avoid going to church. This was built upon by the fact that there was not the separation of church and state that we have today. Ministers of the church were also judges in the courtroom. This enabled ministers to have much more power in the community than they do nowadays. In addition, the people at this time possessed an extremely strict moral code; and anything that went against this code was considered a sin. Religious Aspects says that “The first women to be accused as witches were those who strayed from the Puritan lifestyle and were considered to be social

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