Following the recently established tradition of academic debate on this here fine website. An interesting debate on the influence of the Reformation has come to my attention. In brief, it follows these lines: The set of guidelines recognized as being authored by Jean Calvin were as a rule those of Saint Augustine of, doctrines which Calvin embraced with a fervour which considerably influenced the direction of the Reformation. He was more drastic than Martin Luther, who did not denounce the traditions of the Catholic Church, but rather condemned the Church's custom of giving them priority over the fundamental principles of the religion.

Luther found the church dishonest, ravenous, oppressive and depraved, but the Reformation intended to clean and revitalise the church became instead its competitor, as a result of the denial of the Papacy to adjust its ways. Some disagreement would have been unavoidable, but it was Calvin who promoted the principle of a minority who were destined to be saved while the majority were predestined to be damned. Needless to say, it was acknowledged as self-evident that Calvinists, at least those in positions of power and authority, were of the Elect of the Saved, and those who held conflicting views or disagreed with them were damned in advance. This meant that they could equal the Catholics in oppressions and carnage without thoughts of blame or fear of judgement. This practice was to have a deep result on the world from the eighteenth century.

In due course, the notion arose that "saved" was synonymous with "virtuous", and white men come to regard themselves as intrinsically superior to darker men. This provided a moral geound for the imperialism of the nineteenth century, the enslavement of Negroes and in the twentieth century the burden of Apartheid in Southern Africa. Known variously as "the White Man's Burden", "manifest destiny" or "la mission civilizaire", this was an unintentional outcome of Calvin's philosophy. It is most doubtful that Calvin would have approved of such an anti-Christian reading of his canon, and he definitely would not have foreseen it. But would this have happened anyway? What if Calvin had not spoken out against the papacy?