The Inquisition: Only the Tip of the Iceberg of Religious Persecution

Though modern scholarship has whittled the long believed high death toll of the Catholic wide Inquisition down to a considerably smaller figure, it is only a drop in the bloody bucket of violence and persecution committed under religious pretenses.

In my meanderings on the Inter-webs researching my last post regarding blasphemy laws, I came across the Wiki page for the infamous Inquisition (officially the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition) instituted by the Roman Catholic Church. It has long been held in the public consciousness as the embodiment of religious oppression and persecution, most famously being featured in Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story The Pit and the Pendulum (in which he takes considerable historical liberties) and, of course, Monty Python's memorable, cheeky take on their nefarious doings. Though recorded history is replete with endless atrocities committed in the name of religion (both of the pagan and monotheistic persuasion), it is the legacy of the Inquisition and its particularly vicious methods of torture utilized to combat heresy that resonates so strongly to the present day. The ruthless spirit of the enterprise is perhaps best captured in the words of the sixteenth century Italian cardinal Giovanni Caraffa, appointed head of the Roman Inquisition by Pope Paul III and who would go onto be elected Pope himself:

"Firstly when the faith is in question, there must be no delay; but at the slightest suspicion, rigorous measures must be resorted to with all speed. Secondly, no consideration is to be shown to any prince or prelate, however high his station. Thirdly, extreme severity is rather to be exercised against those who attempt to shield themselves under the protection of any potentate, and fourthly, no man must lower himself by showing toleration toward heretics of any kind."

Not surprisingly, in this same righteous sentiment, the future Pope Paul IV created one of the first Jewish Ghettos in Europe by papal bull, Cum nimis absurdum, in which the supreme pontiff declared, "As it is completely absurd and improper in the utmost that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal servitude, can under the pretext that pious Christians must accept them and sustain their habitation, are so ungrateful to Christians, as, instead of thanks for gracious treatment, they return contumely, and among themselves, instead of the slavery, which they deserve..."

Fueled by such fanaticism the office of the Inquisition - which was most prominent in the Catholic Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, their respective overseas colonies, and last but not least in the Vatican ruled Papal States - waged ruthless spiritual warfare against all enemies, real or imagined, of the Universal Church for well over four centuries. Perhaps its most well known victims are the scientific pioneers Giordano Bruno (who before being burned at the stake in 1600 was imprisoned for seven years for asserting the Copernican theory of a helio-centered universe, among other grave heresies) and Galileo Galilei, placed under house arrest and initially forced to recant his astronomical findings that further supported helio-centrism (he later recanted his recantation). 

So given the sordid picture painted by the historical record and embellished by the popular imagination, imagine my surprise upon reading that the general consensus of modern historians regarding the Inquisition's body count is amazingly minuscule. According to Cullen Murphy, author of the book God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern Word, "The inquisitors were excellent record-keepers -- at times truly superb. One surviving document gives the expenses for an execution down to the price of the rope used to tie the victims' hands. But a lot of the records have been lost. An estimate that has wide credibility among historians is that about 2 percent of those who came before Inquisition tribunals were burned at the stake, which would mean several tens of thousands of people. The rest suffered lesser punishments."

 Certainly well short of the horrendous numbers often thrown about by eager atheists, freethinkers, and even other Christians (so much for brotherly love) when attempting to show how much evil the Catholic Church has wrought in the world. While the history of Mother Church is a checkered one at best and downright heinous at worst, the numbers don't lie in this case. Freethinkers of all stripes, who rightly value the use of reason and empirical evidence, should take extra care not to fall prey to the same emotional bias and sensationalism they accuse religious extremists of indulging in.

On the other hand, do the smaller figures lessen the persecution visited upon "heretics," "infidels," etc. by the Catholic Church as well as the myriad Protestant denominations? (To quote Frank Costanza, you'll get yours in a minute, Protestant peeps). Hell no! It is just as much a tragedy for one person to be beaten, tortured, or murdered for refusing to violate the dictates of their conscience as it is for one million people to be so callously treated, whether for reasons political, social, or spiritual. To again quote Murphy: "The Inquisition was based on intolerance and moral certainty. It tried to enforce a particular view, often with violent means. There's nothing new about hatred and persecution; human beings have been very good at this for millennia. What's new about the Inquisition is that persecution is institutionalized. It persists for generation after generation" (emphasis added). . Unfortunately, as the pages of history attest, organized religion in general - and the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity and Islam in particular - ranks among the worst perpetrators of such affronts to human dignity. The deprivations of the Inquisition are only the tip of the iceberg of religious intolerance and violence.

"Oh, spare us with your God-hating clap trap, MacCormack!" I hear some of you saying. "You want empirical evidence? The records clearly show that atheistic philosophies like Communism are CLEARLY responsible for the most violence in history!"

Yes, my good people, there is no denying the unspeakable track record of such brutal regimes as the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and North Korea. However, as many scholars have pointed out, the structure of said regimes - operating within a Marxist framework - share many of the same rigid, dogmatic traits of an orthodox religion, i.e.  unquestioning allegiance of its subjects to the omnipotent code of a God-like,  Messianic leader. For those who are so inclined to investigate further, I recommend starting with this short but illuminating video by noted skeptic and best-selling author Sam Harris. But I digress...

Empirical evidence, you say? Well, let's take a brief look-see at said evidence, including some of the major modern era world religious wars, mass movements of persecution, and religious inspired colonization conflicts, including the speculated numbers for the Inquisition:

The Crusades, including campaigns against heretical Christian groups like the Cathars and the rival Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Muslim occupiers of the Holy Land: 1.7 million dead.

The Thirty Years' War, waged by rival Catholic and Protestant States in the Holy Roman Empire, 1618-1648: 5.9 million dead.

French Wars of Religion, between French Catholics and Huguenot Protestants, 1562-1598: 2.8 million dead.

English Civil War, where Protestant Parlimentarian forces ousted the Catholic friendly monarchy of Charles I, 1642 - 1651: estimated 190,000 dead.

Oliver Cromwell's conquest of Ireland, August 1649 - April 1653: 200,000 + military and civilian casualties; 50,000 Irish Catholic landowners have their property confiscated and are sent to the West Indies as indentured servants; All Irish rebels captured are executed; the practice of Catholicism banned in Ireland.

Spanish Conquest of Aztec Mexico, 1521 - 200,00 Aztec deaths.

Spanish Conquest of Incan Peru, 1532 - 2,000 dead, 5,000 taken prisoner and enslaved.

The Great Witch Craze, including the Salem Witch Trials, 15th - 18th Centuries: 40,000 alleged witches and other heretics put to death by both Catholics and Protestants throughout Europe and European colonies in the Americas. In his papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, issued in 1484, Pope Innocent VIII ordered an increase in the prosecution of alleged magicians, sorcerers, and witches, who were in need of "correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising... according to their deserts." Innocent would also go on to confirm the infamous Tomas de Torquemada's appointment as Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.

Muslim conquests of India, 12th century to 16th century - Indian population decreases by 80 million during 4 century span.

Spanish Inquisition, 1478 - 1834 - est. 1,250 executed, 40,000 Jews expelled from Spain by order of King Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, forced conversion of both Marrano Spanish Jews and Muslims to Christianity.

Portuguese Inquisition, 1536 - 1824 -  est. 1,183 executed.

Roman Inquisition, c. late 16th century - c. early 20th century: est. 1,250 executed.

That's just a sampling, but I believe the point has been made. While religion is certainly not the only cause of widespread cruelty, suffering, and general inhumanity across the globe, it has definitely been an oft used justification for the perpetration of said barbarities. However, contrary to the thinking of militant atheists, who ironically harbor an Inquistorial zeal to destroy all forms of religious worship, combating fire with fire will only lead to a further conflagration. As Einstein sagely noted, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

 Thankfully, with the advent of the Renaissance, when the seeds of humanism first took root, and their subsequent blooming during the Enlightenment, with the concepts of religious liberty and freedom of conscience, the gnarled roots of ignorance and superstition were slowly but surely being pulled from the intellectual landscape.  

Though religious radicalism is still rearing its noxious, ugly head (primarily, but not exclusively, in the form of fundamentalist Islam), its once powerful appeal to fear is but a ever fading shadow of its former self. In keeping with the upward march of progress and evolution, it will - fiercely but inevitably - be regulated to the dust bin of history. 

I will leave you with a line from the great Bob Ingersoll (whose criminally under read work will be quoted quite liberally; the blog's name is a title of one of his lectures, after all):

"Day by day, religious conceptions grow less and less intense. Day by day, the old spirit dies out of book and creed. The burning enthusiasm, the quenchless zeal of the early church have gone, never, never to return. The ceremonies remain, but the ancient faith is fading out of the human heart. The worn-out arguments fail to convince, and denunciations that once blanched the faces of a race, excite in us only derision and disgust. As time rolls on, the miracles grow mean and small, and the evidences our fathers thought conclusive utterly fail to satisfy us."

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