Why did the pilgrims come here? Really.
Don't bother looking for the answer in most school textbooks. Don't ask the growing ranks of revisionists. Instead, ask the Pilgrims.
They speak clearly and unequivocally in a document known as the Mayflower Compact. Written and signed just ten days after anchoring at Plymouth Rock, this charter is regarded as the first document to establish self-government in the New World. It begins: "In the name of God, Amen."
Note that the very first sentence in that very first governing document acknowledges God. Not a god. Or a force. Or religion. God. Doesn't quite jive with a growing secular assessment that these were mostly just folks searching for economic opportunity.
The second paragraph opens with the reason the pilgrims came:
“Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia…”
Catch that? “The glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith.” They didn’t come to advance a pluralistic culture. They came for the advancement of the Christian faith.
It doesn’t take a doctoral candidate studying early American literature to discover the facts. But if ever there was an inconvenient truth for today’s revisionists, it’s found in the Mayflower Compact. Read it for yourself—it’s only 166 words. As you do, take a moment to thank the Lord for the faith of America’s founders.
God grant us their courage, their faith, their commitment to advancing the Christian faith.
Happy Thanksgiving!