On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 3:00 PM, <jwin...@cyllene.uwa.edu.au> wrote: > On Jan 2, 2013, at 11:53 AM, Jojo Jaro wrote: > I am aware of the excesses of the catholic papa, but what did John Calvin > do? Please educate me. > > He had the scientist Michael Servetus (who contributed enormously to > medicine and was the first European to describe pulmonary circulation) put > to death for "heresy". He was also a strong supporter of biblical > geocentricity denouncing those who "pervert the course of nature" by saying > that "the sun does not move and that it is the earth that revolves and that > it turns." Quite small black marks on his reputation compared to the infamy > of the popes of those days! >
Calvin's Geneva http://www.stephenhicks.org/2010/11/27/john-calvins-geneva/ <<Copernicus was branded a fraud, attendance at church and sermons was compulsory, and Calvin himself preached at great length three or four times a week. Refusal to take the Eucharist was a crime. The Consistory, which made no distinction between religion and morality, could summon anyone for questioning, investigate any charge of backsliding, and entered homes periodically to be sure no one was cheating Calvin’s God. Legislation specified the number of dishes to be served at each meal and the color of garments worn. What one was permitted to wear depended upon who one was, for never was a society more class–ridden. Believing that every child of God had been foreordained, Calvin was determined that each know his place; statutes specified the quality of dress and the activities allowed in each class.>> <<‘But even the elite—the clergy, of course—were allowed few diversions. Calvinists worked hard because there wasn’t much else they were permitted to do. “Feasting” was proscribed; so were dancing, singing, pictures, statues, relics, church bells, organs, altar candles; “indecent or irreligious” songs, staging or attending theatrical plays; wearing rouge, jewelry, lace, or “immodest” dress; speaking disrespectfully of your betters; extravagant entertainment; swearing, gambling, playing cards, hunting, drunkenness; naming children after anyone but figures in the Old Testament; reading “immoral or irreligious” books; and sexual intercourse, except between partners of different genders who were married to one another.” >> Harry
