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"Considero
un abuso muy grave el matar a los hombres por creer
que estan en el error o por algún detalle
de interpretación escriturística,
cuando sabemos que el más elegido se puede
equivocar." |
| (Carta
a Ecolampadio ,Calvini Op. VIII, 862). |
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"El
camino a la salvación no es el resultado de una
fuerza exterior, sino una voluntaria y secreta elección
del alma, y no puede suponerse que Dios quiera hacer uso
de unos medios que no puedan alcanzar, sino más
bien impedir el logro de ese fin." |
| (John
Locke, “Ensayo Sobre la Tolerancia”,
Ed. Alianza Editorial, 1999, p. 28). |
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"(...)
la tolerancia es la característica principal de
la verdadera iglesia. (...) [La Iglesia] no ha sido hecha
para lucir una pompa exterior ni para alcanzar el dominio
eclesiástico, ni menos aún para hacer fuerza,
sino para regular la vida de los hombres de acuerdo con
las normas de la virtud y de la piedad." |
| (John
Locke, “Ensayo Sobre la Tolerancia”,
Ed. Alianza Editorial, 1999, p. 61-62). |
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“An
important facet, not always taken into account when analyzing
Servetus is, without any doubt, his favorable attitude
towards pluralism in religious matters and related to
the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. This attitude
becomes more remarkable in light of the increasing intransigence
of Catholics and Protestants.
In his work “On the Justice of the Kingdom of Christ”
he wrote:
"All seem to have part of truth and a part of
error and each spies the error of the others and fails
to see their own. May God in his mercy enable us without
obstinacy to perceive our errors. It would be easy to
judge if we were permitted to all to speak in peace in
the church that all might vie in prophesying and that
those who are first inspired, as Paul says, might listen
in silence to those who next speak, when anything is revealed
to them. But today all strive for honor. May the Lord
destroy all the tyrants of the Church. Amen."
The open mind of Servetus was the result of all his life
and the contact with the most outstanding theologians
of his epoch. Nevertheless, his favorable attitude towards
religious freedom and freedom of speech was not welcome
by anybody, since he gained for himself the hatred of
Catholics and Protestants, to the point of being burned
in effigy by the first, and alive by the second. When
the municipal Council of Basel, prohibited the sale of
the book of Servetus “On the errors of the Trinity”
and seized the copies already on sale, Servetus addressed
to Oecolampadius, who had been consulted by the local
Council, as follows:
"If you find me in error in one point you should
not on that account condemn me in all... The greatest
of the Apostles were sometimes in error. Even though you
see clearly how Luther errs in some points you do not
condemn him. And I sought your instruction but instead
you rejected me. Such is the fragility of the humanity
that we condemn the others as impostors and impious and
except our own, for no one recognizes his own error....
You say that I want all to be thieves and that no one
should be punished or killed. I call Almighty God as witness
that this is not my opinion and that I detest it. But
if ever I said anything it is because I consider it a
serious matter to kill men because they are in error on
some question of scriptural interpretation, when we know
that even the elect ones may be led astray into error."
These wonderful words, which foretold his tragic ending,
represent the most precious argument in favour of religious
freedom and freedom for theological discussions. And the
more intransigent and intolerant the inquisitional manners
of one and the others were, which compete each other in
executions and tortures, which will never be sufficiently
detested, the more valuable Servetus’ approach is.
That is how Sebastian Castellione understood it in a booklet
which he wrote against a book of Calvin, and who pointed
out the following:
"I
do not defend Servetus’ doctrine; what I attack
is the bad doctrine of Calvin. After burning him alive,
he enraged with him, when he was already dead. Servetus
did not combat you with weapons, but with the pen. You
have responded to his writings with violence. But to kill
a man is not to protect a doctrine, but it is to kill
a man.»
According to A. Alcalá, any idea or religion justify
violence or recourse to weapons. Ideas are protected with
reason, words and pens. There is no reason why a religion
should be protected, and the mere fact to resort to such
pretext to justify the old and the new crusades betrays
certain nuance of hypocrisy. They are believed or not,
but they do not need any defence. Jesus could have defended
himself, but he preferred to die. There is not more charity
than giving the life for your friends, nor more heroism
than giving your life for your ideas (Foreword to “Servetus,
El Hereje Perseguido”, Roland H. Bainton, p. 16).”
(Excerpts from the book by Luis Betes Palomo, “Anotaciones
al pensamiento teológico de Miguel Servet,
Michael Servetus Institute, 1975, p. 23 et seq.).
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