I've heard that early Protestantism was very extremist (violent, anti-science, etc.). How true is that?

by gamegyro56

I read that 16th century Protestant societies were similar to Wahhabism. That Calvin rejected heliocentrism, and Renaissance art and humanism was banned. And that they were violent and destructive of art (like Wahhabis). How true is this and the comparison?

badskeleton

Yes, Calvin specifically denounced heliocentrism and preached that 'the sun does not move and that it is the earth that revolves and that it turns'. Rosen, Edward (1960), Calvin’s attitude toward Copernicus in Journal of the History of Ideas, volume 21, no. 3, July, pp.431–441.

Yes, Protestants were on the whole fierce iconoclasts, and a tremendous amount of religious art was lost in the early years of the Reformation. In addition to what was actively destroyed, less was produced: the Church was one of the greatest (perhaps the greatest?) patrons of art in England, and the Reformation put a stop to that.

For a quick example, go to any old church in England and note the empty alcoves in the walls: that's where statues of saints or church fathers stood until they were pulled down by the reformers. Keith Thomas has written elegantly of 'the wholesale destruction of so much art of the past, the deliberate smashing of statues, defacing of wall-paintings and breaking of stained glass.' See Protestantism and art in early modern England. Thomas, Keith. Historian 78 (Summer 2003): 6. It's not true to flatly state that 'art was banned', though. They mostly really just hated manmade images of holy things.

I don't know enough about the interactions between Protestantism and Humanism to answer that part of your question.

I also don't know enough about Wahhabism to make the comparison.