What are some good ideas for a writing prompt about religious groups in the colonies?in my AP US History class, we are writing a research paper. we...

I agree with you that a simple compare and contrast sounds
a little stale.

One thing that you might try, if you want
to, is a question about whether the Puritans are worthy of the respect that we give
them.  We see the Pilgrims as our forefathers, as the first Americans, even though they
came after the Jamestown settlement.  This is largely because of the idea that they came
for religious reasons rather than for economic reasons.  However, the Puritans were also
very intolerant and relatively undemocratic.  If you write about something like this,
you would be able to explore behind the myths (good and bad) about the
Puritans.

So my prompt would be something like "Looking at
all of their characteristics, good and bad, should we respect and honor the Puritans and
look at them as (in spirit, at least) the first true Americans?"