It's kind of silly to decide someone was a terrible person because they held opinions that were not only reflective of their time, but demanded by their faith...

Right you are! The excesses of presentism aside, Hitler, Elizabeth I, Cromwell, Joe McCarthy, Mitchell Palmer, Bishop Cranmer, "Bull" Connor, Ian Paisley and _____ (insert name of any crazed religious bigot you wish)- all wonderful, charming folks, unjustly and cruelly misunderstood and persecuted by historians thru the ages.

This sort of sophistry can be dangerous- when not simply amusing.

Puts me in mind of the old Kingston Trio intro:

"Frank and Jesse James were a product of their environment. They were sent out into the woods by their parents to forage for berries, truffles, rutabagas, roots of all sorts. Put yourself in their place. You'd have been mean too! "