With thanks to an earlier post today by CDL, please know the following...
Calvin was not acting as an agent of the state in the matter of Servetus.
*Calvin was not the judge of the case.
*Calvin was not part of the Jury.
*Calvin was not the prosecutor of the case.
*Calvin did not pass sentence on Servetus.
*Calvin did not approve of the sentence handed down.
*Calvin did warn Servetus against coming to Geneva.
*Calvin did testify as a witness against Servetus.
*The council of Geneva was controlled by a majority of Libertines who were hostile to Calvin, and not likely to grant his wishes in the matter.
*Servetus already had the death penalty hanging over his head in Catholic Europe, as did Calvin."
Them's the facts, for all you literalists.
You think you can refute the man's extended and well documented tyranny to one case?
I'm really struggling to square these claims with the article on Servetus in the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Servetus )
As for Calvin's opinion of Servetus he wrote to his friend Farel on 13 February 1546 (seven years prior to Servetus being arrested in Geneva): "If he [Servetus] comes [to Geneva], I shall never let him go out alive if my authority has weight." (Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Baker Book House, 1950), p. 371.) And during Servetus' heresy trial, Calvin also wrote: "I hope that the verdict will call for the death penalty." (Walter Nigg, The Heretics (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1962), p. 328.) As mentioned he had also been the one to notify the authorities of his being in Geneva and he also provided letters as evidence for the prosecution. He felt that Servetus had attacked his friends in the Reformation and so the evidence he provided often concerned defending these friends as much as attacking Servetus. Further Calvin pleaded with the Geneva City Council to execute him by means of decapitation because it was more humane than burning at the stake. He also expressed hopes to the end that Servetus would convert from "his blasphemy" so possibly be spared. These hopes proved illusory and the council rejected his plea concerning decapitation.
Ain't them's fact?