Modern Day Puritan

Although Puritanism doesn't exist as a religion any more, many traits and values have been passed down and made a part of other religions and common principles.
          The Puritans believed that a single mistake in life could cast you down in hell and out of God's favor forever. Nowadays, religions are a lot more lenient about repenting for sins and confessing so that you may have a clear conscience once again. I personally am not religious so there's not much I can say about this without stepping into unknown territory. But I can say that I haven't a lot of the straight-as-a-ruler laws of Puritanism in modern society.
          While we do have some rules that aren't as bendable as others, they're nowhere as harsh as those of the Puritans. For example, in the book The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne committed adultery and while she got off with what seemed like a simple punishment, some of the townspeople were saying that she should be put in jail or hanged for it. Whooa, nellie that's super extreme. In our society, cheating is certainly frowned upon, but it's not something you can be arrested for! (Usually..)
          That's another thing. Hanging. I'm not too caught up on the different ways death penalties are carried out but I think death by hanging isn't one of them anymore. Let alone to have it done in front of the entire town for everyone to come watch. That's just absolutely barbaric. This doesn't only apply to the Puritans though. Back in ye olden days hanging and decapitation witnessed by ruthless, bloodthirsty townspeople was the norm and I'm so glad that's been shunned since then.
          Most of the traces of Puritanism is gone from our society these days but there are still some values that have been passed down and altered. We have come up with new, more-but definitely not completely-humane ways of dealing with breaking the law or rules of a religion. And I'm sure down the road there will be people analyzing how primitive our society is as well.