Does Puritanism still exist in the 21st Century? People who believed in Puritanism were called Puritans, meaning they were included in a group of english reformed protestants during both the sixteenth and seventeenth century, who demanded the Church of England “purify” itself from their “catholic” practices. Puritanism began to gradually decrease during the eighteenth century due to descendents beginning to question the rigidity of the faith and there were more non-puritans, who were not seeking salvation that arrived as immigrants. Puritanism did decrease but many people still have some Puritan beliefs. Matthew Hutson, a writer for The New York Times, wrote an article called “Still Puritan after All These Years, Are Americans Still Puritan?”