For their time, they actually weren't. They were much more progressive than their contemporaries in many ways. They weren't as cute and humble as the Quakers, a very small group, but compared to the Catholic or Anglican churches at the time, they were pretty chill. As Calvinists they believed in the democratization of religion and did away with the belief that you were closer to God through being born into a certain church hierarchy. As such they believed everyone should be taught to read and write so they could understand the bible, and that one was predestined for heaven so long as they led a good life. They also got rid of silly bullshit like the ornateness of the Catholic church. They believed in reinvesting money in their community rather than blowing off wealth on luxury items for personal enjoyment. These ideas arguably led to the fact America was never as hellbent on rigid class structure as Europe was in the 1600-1800s, and why many poor or middle class Americans were able to obtain an education long before this was possible in Europe. And while many of them had slaves, many of them like Judge Samuel Sewell also condemned slavery so much that it was probably some part of the reason slavery never took off in the north as much as it did in the south. Today Congregationalists and Unitarians, two of the most liberal Christian denominations in the country, are the direct descendants of the Puritan church in New England. Puritanism was more than just the Salem Witch Trials and Anne Hutchinson (which were obviously bad, but they aren't representative of the entire people in the MBC). Here's another good video from another historian on their history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Er7-VjX72w