You have to admit that it was people like him that brought more
"democracy" to the Church and the common man.(fire brands at 10 yards, anyone?)grin
The mention of firebrands brings some things to mind. First I have to say that IMO Luther and the other reformers contributed to democracy in either religious or social affairs only in an indirect sense by breaking the stranglehold of Catholicism. The Reformers didn't believe in or practice democracy or religious freedom for anyone except those who believed exactly like themselves. I don't have available much information on Luther, but an aware that he did become deeply anti-Jewish. His writings called for the confinement and enslavement of Jews. I have a vague recollection that his writings on the Jews were actually cited as evidence for the defense during one of the Nuremberg war crimes trials.
On Calvin, I do have in my possession a little information relevant to his attitudes on democracy and religious freedom. Although Calvin only officially held the position of pastor in Reformation-era Geneva, he actually ruled the city much like the Ayatollah Khomeini once ruled Iran. Calvin dictated to the city leaders what the laws should be and how they should be enforced. Police regularly invaded private homes to search for too lavish furnishings, too luxurious women's underclothes, or heretical writings. Calvin's regime punished heretics as ruthlessly as the Catholic inquisition did. Prisoners charged with heresy were kept bound in their cells to prevent them from escaping their tortures by suicide. The most famous case of a heretic put to death at Calvin's order was Michael Servetus.
Servetus was a French doctor who discovered that blood circulated through the body. He also happened to hold his own idiosyncratic religious beliefs. While he was a normal Protestant in most of his beliefs, he was also a Unitarian who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity on the grounds that the doctrine is not explicitly set forth in Scripture. He corresponded with Calvin, who repaid his openness by informing on him to Inquisition authorities. He was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death in France. However, he succeeded in escaping before the sentence was carried out. He foolishly made his way to Geneva. Perhaps he was unaware of Calvin's betrayal or perhaps he may have been seeking to imitate Jesus. If so, he found in Calvin a man willing to be his "Caiphas". Calvin had vowed to have Servetus burned if he fell into his hands and that is exactly what happened. Servetus and copies of his writings were bound to a pyre and he was slowly burned to death.
I also will mention here that the Calvinist Puritans who settled in New England hanged a number of Quakers because of their religious beliefs and forced Quakers, Baptists, and other non-Puritans to seek and obtain royal charters establishing their own colonies where religious toleration was the law of the land.
Now this history, I would argue has some bearings on the subject of Calvinism. It seems only natural to me that one who believes that God has created most of the human race for the express purpose of being burned eternally, could easily have others burned himself if it is in his power. Their own writings reveal that the doctrines of predestination and limited atonement presented a great deal of mental anguish in their early lives for devout proponents of the doctrines like Luther, Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards. Calvin called the predestination of most of humanity to eternal damnation the "horrible decree" and he advised Christians not to think about the doctrine too much. Jonathan Edwards wrote of having "many exercising thoughts and inward struggles...It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me. But I remember the time very well, when I seemed to be convinced, and fully satisfied, as to this sovereignity of God, and his justice in thus eternally disposing of men according to his sovereign pleasure..." Each of these men came to peace with the idea and attributed this change in their attitudes to the workings of the spirit of God. I have to question whether this change was not simply a hardening of the heart and a stilling of the pangs of conscience. Calvin's involvement in the burning of heretics, Luther's calls for violence against Jews, and the Puritan's hanging of Quakers and driving out of Baptists like Roger Williams are evidence of this IMO.
Next to examine the other side of the religious divide. (Continued) |
