Theocracy, Then and Now

Introduction

Any study of American colonial literature will quickly reveal the central place of religion in many colonists' lives. This religious focus is especially prominent in the lives and thinking of the Puritans of Massachusetts. Even a brief look at Puritan literature, such as we will have time for in this class, indicates how much religious belief affected the Puritans, but even that does not reveal the extent to which religious principles dominated the Puritans' everyday lives.

The Puritans initiated many traditional aspects of American life, but they did not institute the separation of church and state we have become accustomed to today. Thus, the Puritans' political and governmental systems merely served as another reflection of their piety. The Puritans' form of government, called a theocracy, depended upon church leaders who involved themselves in the colony's decision making to a far greater extent than one would see today. Biblical law formed the basis for their civil law, and church leaders played a powerful role in organizing the community and enforcing the law.

A crowd scene with pillory This form of government may seem like an artifact of the distant past to modern Americans, but the last few decades have witnessed the return of theocracy to many countries as their preferred system of government. Among recent examples, the Taliban of Afghanistan have revealed some of the potential problems with theocracy. Given recent history, one could assume that theocracy is by its nature a deeply flawed governmental system, but the form of government may be less of a problem than the way the leaders choose to impose it on their populations. The question of what to do with the people who do not conform always arises, and, to a great degree, the way societies answer this question determines the quality of the societies they create.

This project asks students to examine the idea of theocracy as a link between our current geopolitical situation and a group of colonists who probably exerted more influence on American history than any of the other early colonists.
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The Task

A typical Puritan The task is a matter of using the Web to research the term theocracy. In previous projects for this class, the resources were selected for students, but this assignment asks students to apply some principles in the evaluation of the sites they will use in preparing their treatment of the topic.
The product will be a research paper, complete with documentation and works cited page, in which students examine the idea of theocracy and relate modern theocracies to the one formed by our Puritan forebears.
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The Process

The first part of the project involves finding Web sites with information on the notion of theocracy. Students should be aware that this is an emotionally charged topic for some people who believe traditional theocracy provides an answer to various current social and political problems. Thus students may encounter all kinds of opinionated content. They will also encounter unrelated content generated by rock bands or makers of video games that happen to have taken the word theocracy for their names. That leads to the second part of the project.

In this second part, students will research and apply some of the basic principles for evaluating Web content for accuracy, authority, bias, appropriateness, and just plain old ease of use. They will use this information to sort the sources from which they will write their paper, and to exclude various sites from consideration. Rather than merely dropping these rejected sites "on the cutting room floor," students will compile a list of these rejected sites and explain why they have rejected them based upon something they have learned from the resources provided for that purpose (below). Students can print out and fill in this form to help compile this information.
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Resources

Unusual and Useful Search Sites to Try

-- Xrefer
(Search for theocracy)
-- Query Server
(Search for theocracy under both "Web" and "News.")
-- Ixquick
(Again, search under "Web" and "News.")

Sites to Help in Evaluating Web Content


-- Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources
-- Evaluating Internet Research Sources
-- Critically Analyzing Information Sources

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Evaluation

As always, the job can be done, barely done, or extremely well done. Aim high! This is a college-level course, so do your very best.


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Conclusion

This project may reveal something about the historical world, but I hope it shows just as much about the world we live in today. If nothing else, it may serve as an object lesson on the old French saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same.
NOTE: This project was initiated as part of an online course taken from Learn NC. It was accepted for publication on that site and also appears here.
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Designed by Michael Byers
Orange High School
Hillsborough, NC
Last updated June, 2008.
Based on a template from The WebQuestPage

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