Myth #1: Calvin had Michael Servetus executed.

[JM]

5 Myths about John Calvin

"Calvin was not at that time a citizen so he had no political power to put Servetus on trial, let alone convict him. Servetus was indeed put on trial for heresy, and Calvin was called as a witness for the prosecution. Calvin pled with the authorities not to burn Servetus, but they, wanting actually to demonstrate their independence of Calvin, opted for burning the Anabaptist."

Good read.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[hedrick]

Calvin didn't do it, but he defended it. Geneva asked a number of other Swiss churches, and they all agreed. Catholics agreed. Just about everyone except Anabaptists agreed that the State should execute heretics. There's no reason to condemn Calvin specifically for this. But there is reason to ask whether this is an appropriate thing for Christians to do. If not, where and why did it go wrong?

 

[hedrick]

The Catholics didn't agree with Geneva. But, Servetus was a fugitive of justice from Catholic Inquisitors.

Are you saying that they wouldn’t have executed him? That’s what I was referring to

 

[Radagast]

Are you saying that they wouldn’t have executed him?

They were, in fact, demanding that Servetus be extradited so that he could be executed in France. AFAIK, they actually had soldiers waiting to escort him out of Geneva.

However, the Genevan government (of which Calvin was not a part, of course) wanted to make a statement.

 

[98cwitr]

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