We tend to romanticise the Christmas season, that time of year when we gather with friends and family, feast and be merry. But for most of its history Christmas has been a time of sordid behaviour.
The Puritans saw May Day celebrations as a test from God.
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Peter C. Mancall, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
It was less about their asceticism and more about rejecting the world they had fled.
John Lacy, a Restoration actor and playwright, satirised puritans, including in his role as Mr Scruple in The Cheats by John Wilson (right).
John Michael Wright (died 1694/National Portrait Gallery
Peter C. Mancall, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
When the founders wrote the Constitution, they had to devise a punishment fitting for a civil servant’s impeachment. One possible punishment: banishment from the community.
Seventy-eight percent of the people executed for witchcraft in New England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries were women.
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Many American evangelicals believe that the establishment and protection of Israel set up a chain of event for the return of Jesus. What were the origins of this narrative?
People shouting and yelling slogans during a protest in front of the US Consulate to denounce Donald Trump’s immigration policies on January 30, 2017 in Toronto, Canada.
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Media pundits are promoting Canada as exceptional in its tolerance and diversity but the truth is, Canadians have a tendency not to be not less racist than Americans, but to be less loud about it.