But the puritan ethic, or ascetic ethic, the concept of abstinence from everything pleasurable because it must therefore be sinful… This has been a hallmark of many religious sects; the Puritans (capital “P”) were just one of the extremes. This goes along with the concept that suffering and pain can atone for your and others’ transgressions. Heck, you could build a whole religion around that.
There are plenty of sects that feel that dancing is sinful, singing is sinful, tasty food, getting drunk, taking it easy instead of praying, colourful clothing and jewelry… Heck, there’s an entire psychiatric manual to be filled with sects’ odd attitudes toward sex and how sinful it is.* The greater the pleasure, the more sinful it must be. Cover the women from head to toe lest we have sinful thoughts about them. Don’t even get close to them. At the extremes, the hermits in the desert fasted and flagellated themselves to prove they were pure and closer to God…
(* a recent Reddit comment from an airline crew describes how they discovered an orthodox Jew had taken a dump in the airline toilet’s sink since the toilet seat had just been sat upon by a woman, therefore was unclean.)