To You,

Hahaha, I must say you were right. How though? How could they be so...well, dumb?! Ok, ok, maybe I should say naïve or, or simple. Yes, let's say simple. I couldn't imagine them being quite like you described but you had them pegged with precision. I wanted to be right, of course, but their little minds tell them they can serve under their god and everything will be justified; including inequality. Luckily, I did find people who took a stand against this idea of 'Christianity.' It was a bit of relief to find out that a group of humans saw the light and took a step toward rational thought. I'm not writing to tell you that you were right and I was wrong, or even vice versa, but rather I wanted to describe the way these humans have had a constant battle between religious thought and rational thought and how that has translated into their behavior.

Shortly after I arrived, I had to act quickly. The fires were raging and I had to fumble through my tool kit to find my Blaze Biter. As you know, the humans didn't last too long on their Earth before destroying it all. Anyway, I put out the fires in due time. I searched for several days looking for any signs of civilization. Almost nothing was left. Luckily, I happened upon one of those new Apple indestructible hard drives, a.k.a. iDrives. They sure do work. I mean, it was literally the only thing I found that survived the blasts. I quickly loaded up the information and soon found out that your descriptions were pretty much correct.

One of the first bits of information that I acquired was about a place called, Europe. This land mass had only a few humans on it that seemed to have a rule over the large population of other humans that also occupied the land. These humans were known as, kings and clergymen. Anyway, these rulers all had a very firm belief that there is a god in the universe that has a very specific set of rules. If these humans didn't obey this god and it's set of rules, then they would be punished with posthumous torment and agony. So, needless to say, they mostly obeyed this god. But something happened; a group of humans were tired of the way they were forced to believe and decided to leave Europe to practice their own set of beliefs. They traveled by sea ship (how archaic, I know) to a 'new' land mass called, America. Well, it was new to them. This group of humans were known as, Puritans.

These Puritans had a set of beliefs that was a bit different from the beliefs of their old rulers. Oh, this could be interesting! Well, one of the beliefs was what is called, predestination. I found out from a human named, Paul P. Reuben, that unconditional election refers to, “only a few are selected for salvation” (Reuben). Apparently, this Christian god only likes a few humans and they get to be happy after they die. They are the ones that are elected. This belief really rang true when I found out about how these Puritans treated a different group of humans referred to as, Indians.

Remember when I told you that America was new to the Europeans? Well, that is because there were people living in America for a very long time before the Europeans showed up. These Indians didn't believe in the same god that the Europeans believed in. So when the Puritans showed up, they figured these Indians weren't elected; they were anything but. They dressed differently, they spoke differently and they believed differently. One Puritan named, William Bradford, really showed his faith when he described the Indians. Bradford wrote, “being devoyd of all civill inhabitants, wher ther are only salvage & brutish men, which range up and downe, litle otherwise then ye wild beasts of the same” (Bradford 24). He believed that since the Indians didn't follow the same god as he did, they must not be part of the elect. His metaphor is very potent when he essentially says the Indians are, “wild beasts.” So to the faithful Bradford, it seems they weren't worthy of respect because if his god didn't care for them, why should he? It's interesting how one group of humans can treat another group of humans with utter disregard to universal ethics.

Similarly, another Christian named, John Winthrop, believed, “that women should obey men at all times, and that women should be forbidden to teach about religion” (“Religious Freedom: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson”). Again we have a Christian who is intolerant. This time, the human belittles women of his own race! These are women who speak, behave and believe in the same things that Winthrop believes in. I guess women don't get respect either. I wonder if Winthrop is suggesting that women aren't elect? Well, these zealous Christians believe so faithfully in their god that they can be intolerant towards unfaithful humans around them. Interesting to say the least.

But then I learn about yet another Christian. His name is Roger Williams. Now, he was different! Being a Christian, his beliefs were still in conjunction with his religion but he was able to have a more open minded view. Unlike Winthrop, Williams thought people should be considered equals. A peasant, a king, a man and a woman should all be equal. It shouldn't matter what class they were or who they were, they should all be equal. He writes, “...Christianity must be free from the 'foul embrace' of civil authority” (Lauter). He is referring to other humans claiming they are superior in some way; they have an authority over the population. That idea leads to inequality. In reality, one of the core beliefs of Christianity is the golden rule. It is written in the Holy Bible, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (New International Version, Matthew. 7.12). It is saying that you should treat everyone equally. If you want to be treated as an equal, then you should treat everyone else as an equal. It's revealing, however, to know that the ones who were being intolerant and unequal were Christians themselves. What a completely hypocritical idea. I'm telling you, these humans keep surprising me.

I also learned about a woman who fights back. This was really bold of a woman to do in this time period as it seemed that it was a societal norm to think women were inferior. I was glad to read that she was ready to fight this idea. In her poem, “The Prologue,” Anne Bradstreet writes, “Let poets and historians set these forth/My obscure lines shall not so dim their worth” (ll. 5-6). Here Bradstreet is saying historians and poets have a worth. In her day, most of the historians and poets were men. These men are worthy because they have the ability to put down in words the ideas and events of humans. Ann Brady also agrees with this statement. Brady writes, “Bradstreet’s poem suggests that male poets, with all of their grandeur, look down on her style and her gender” (Brady). So why can't a woman, who does the same thing, have worth? Well, she can! This is what Bradstreet is saying. Her words, her “obscure lines” have the ability to tell history just as well as a man's words could. Take that Winthrop! It looks like these humans are taking a stand for a rational approach to equality. Maybe they are moving away from that idea of Christianity.

Then I get to the real turning point. I start to read about this idea of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment has a new approach to thought. It adopts a rational process that allows humans to think logically through reason. This brings me to a man named, Thomas Paine. He applied this approach in his overall ideology. He writes in his work, “The American Crisis,” “What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man... If we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other” (Paine 177). Again I read about equality. Paine uses this novel idea of reason to define justice. Everyone should have the same system of justice and law. No one should be above or below anyone else. Hmm, that almost sounds like Christianity. Well, Thomas Paine was no Christian. He, like many Enlightenment thinkers, was a Deist. He most certainly believed in a god, a higher power, but it was not the Christian god that Winthrop or even Williams believed in. And since he was a Deist, I wonder if other humans thought less of him as he wasn't a Christian. Well, that isn't how Chelsea Suiter sees it. Suiter writes, “One still has to give him credit for thinking differently, and trying to help himself, and others, by looking at the world around them from a different point of view” (Suiter).

In the end, it is a shame that the humans destroyed themselves. After reading about the Enlightenment period, it really seemed that they had something going for them. Unfortunately, I am unable to find out how the last several centuries played out for the humans because the iDrive I found had no more documents on it. I do hope that they kept up with their Enlightenment thinking and had more people like Paine that supported reasonable thought and equality.

Well, I will see you soon! I hope everything has been nice back home on Xela,

Nossral

(Alex Larsson)