As church historian Robert Baker notes, the Roman bishop violated the promise, however, remarking that the church did not need to keep its word with heretics. Something to remember as we interact with the Georgia Baptist Convention. Huss was condemned by the Council and was burned at the stake . . . A follower, Jerome of Prague, suffered the same fate months later. These killings led to open revolt known as the Hussite wars, a political and religious conflict which lasted until about 1435.
Oppression often leads to revolution and the human quest for freedom and liberty of conscience.
Something else to remember as we interact with the Georgia Baptist Convention. Or, how about the incredibly inclusive and totally tolerant practices of the great reformer John Calvin, who galvanized power in Geneva Switzerland and sought to create the ultimate theocracy by making the city a model of a perfected Christian community. All of Genevan life was micro-managed by Calvin who, as Williston Walker notes, maintained constant and minute supervision. Despite frequent challenges, Calvin withstood opposition, even to the point of participating in the trial, condemnation and burning at the stake of Miguel Servetus, found guilty in several publications of untold theological indiscretions which dared to question or possibly even doubt the inerrant, infallible Institutes on the Christian Religion, Calvin's very own theological treatise and a blue print for joyous living in Geneva. Walker says that it was a great victory for Calvin who settled once and for all by his inestimable standards the centuries old debate surrounding the doctrine of the Trinity, thus securing his power and status, and protecting Geneva once and for all from the ever-festering boil of heresy and the ever present and dangerous threat of theological inquiry, discourse, and dialogue.