Page 275 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1576 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

in a new era of religious freedom. In fact, the rise of thing in favor of religious liberty, it was a typographical
Protestantism witnessed a fresh outbreak of religious error” (Wood 1966, 11).
intolerance. Protestants were vigorous in winning con- The spread of new religious ideas across Europe dur-
verts from Catholicism, but they were often as vicious in ing the Reformation led to a series of religious wars that
their persecution of Catholic and Protestant heretics as was finally curtailed only by the Peace of Westphalia set-
Catholics had been against them. The leading lights of tlement of 1648. By then, it was apparent to many that
the Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin, were religious tolerance was essential, lest everyone in Europe
never reluctant to exterminate their own adversaries. die of heresy. A healthy spirit of tolerance appeared in
Luther frequently recommended to the Duke of Saxony many dissenting groups, most notably the Socinians,
the execution of Catholic, Jewish, and Anabaptist Anabaptists, Diggers, Quakers, Politiques, and Baptists.
heretics. Calvin himself prescribed the execution of These groups, all of whom experienced acute degrees of
numerous heretics, including the Unitarian Michael religious intolerance, were far apart on theological mat-
Servetus at Geneva in 1553. Calvin’s contemporary and ters but united in their advocacy of religious freedom.
Protestant scholar Sebastian Costello probably had it The growth of religious tolerance was not merely
right when he wrote of Calvin,“If Calvin ever wrote any- a matter of expediency, however. Seminal thinkers such

Endicott, a follower of Roger Williams and passionate supporter of religious freedom in
colonial New England, in an act of defiance cuts the cross from the King's banner.