Revisionist historians
Historians have shattered the myth that the Puritans were anti-intellectual and led a joyless life of obedience to a harsh and distant God. Freudianism was popular in the 1920's and the Puritans were blamed for any repressive, neurotic tendencies of American life. Intellectuals complained that America was super moralistic and anti-intellectual because of the Puritans. H.L. Menchen summed up the image by defining a Puritan as one who had "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
Historians such as James Truslow Adams and Vernon Parrington were hostile to the Puritans and Pilgrims. Revisionist historians have written against this prejudice and rebutted Menchen and his like. The two main historians who revised the incorrect views were Perry Miller and Samuel Eliot Morrison of Harvard.
Pilgrims honored in 1820
In
1820 at the bicentennial of the rounding of Plymouth, Daniel Webster
said that there is a deeply religious foundation for our national
blessings, "Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our
origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for
the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in
its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements
of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their
institutions, civil, political, or literary. Let us cherish these
sentiments, and extend this influence still more widely in the full
conviction, that that is the happiest society which partakes in the
highest degree of the mild and peaceful spirit of
Christianity."
1920
In 1920 America celebrated the 300th birthday of the spiritual
birth of America with the landing 
in 1620 of the Pilgrim Fathers who came to build a nation that would
be a free and beautiful home for God and their descendants to live
in.
New Pilgrim movement
Reverend Moon was born in 1920, and forty years later he sent three missionaries to America. Miss Kim, David Kim and Dr. Pak left their country to come to America. Twelve years later in 1972 Rev. Moon came to America and spoke throughout proclaiming in his Day of Hope tour: "I have initiated a youth movement which is probably the only one of its kind in United States history. This is a new Pilgrim movement."
Reverend Moon
The Messiah said in every state publicly to the Christians of America that there are tens of millions of Christians, and the Unification Church may be only a few thousand but "... the mere numbers of the Christian population in America are not impressive. You cannot impress God with numbers, but only with fervent faith. The standard is the quality of Abraham's faith. How many Christians in America are really crying out with fervor for God ... How many people put God first? How many are ready to die for God?"
He said, "I made a covenant with our young people of America that we will strive in partnership with God for this great crusade. I want you to join. I want you to support these young people. There is nowhere else to turn. When you bring God back into your home, your home is secure. Your juvenile delinquency problem will be solved. There is no good answer to the racial problem except God. Communism will be no threat when God is made real. God will increase your wealth. This is the one way that America can save herself."
"This is my deep desire, from my heart, that America will see the glorious day of renewal. And for this reason I came to speak to you with hope for America."
Reverend Moon said the Pilgrims "had to give up their families, their relatives, their surroundings, and their country, and head toward an unknown land. Their only hope was in God. Every step they took they depended upon God. Their journey was long, and there were many storms. They prayed unceasingly to God. They had but one way to turn. They turned to God. Those Pilgrim men and women were one with God. And that is how they survived."
"Put yourself in their position of total reliance on God. What a wonderful faith! I am sure that the faith of the Pilgrim Fathers touched the heart of God. Nothing could have given them this kind of courage, this kind of dedication, this kind of sacrificial spirit except their faith in God."
The relationship between church and state is that church is in the subject position or leader, and government is in the objective or follower position. Government is to be guided by religious values. The Puritans put God first in their politics. The Mayflower Compact begins "In the Name of God, Amen" in large letters.
Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock is the only boulder on the sandy shore. The
people of Plymouth placed such 
value on the Rock that when the townspeople in the next century built
their first wharf they built it right over the Rock. The Plymouth
Rock is a symbol of great faith and hope.
The most famous symbol of the Puritans is Plymouth Rock which is today housed in a granite museum. This rock is symbolic for not only their rock-like faith but providentially it is a symbol for Christ who had come to America. Reverend Moon was born in 1920 on the 300th anniversary of the birth of America. This is not a coincidence. The number three is the number of God and perfection and a number of separation. America was now ready to receive the Messiah. Forty years after the Messiah's birth in 1960, three missionaries were in America beginning the building of the "new Pilgrim movement." Reverend Moon said in his Day of Hope tours that the "Unification Church is the new Pilgrim movement." He said that his "followers in Korea bade me farewell in tears ... I gave up my surroundings ... just as many people have in the history of God's providence."
He said that the young members of the Unification Church "are capable of earning tens of thousands of dollars a year, but instead they are going out on the streets asking you to come to these lectures. Their hearts are compassionate. They have one purpose. They want to save America. They want to bring God back to America.…"
Rev. Moon says America was "begun in the sacrificial spirit pursuing God’s purpose and that is why America is today free and wealthy."
