Pilgrims were English Separatists who sailed to America on the Mayflower in 1620 and founded Plymouth Colony. Some historians argue that the term Pilgrim is essentially synonymous with Puritan. Pilgrims were religious separatists who came to the New World to find religious freedom. Although they still held strict religious beliefs, they were more tolerant of dissent and other religious beliefs. Puritans, on the other hand, were a group of English Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England of its Catholic practices and beliefs. They followed a more strict interpretation of the Bible, and they were much less tolerant of dissent and other religious beliefs. They believed in predestination, the idea that God has already chosen who will be saved and who will be damned, and they were very strict in their moral code.