The Holy Inquisition

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Stryder1212

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#1 Stryder1212
Member since 2005 • 114 Posts

There were roughly four grand Inquisitions accounted for throughout history that were orchestrated by the Church. The Medieval, Spanish, Portuguese, and Roman Inquisitions. What is agreed upon by most historians was that these event's objectives were to repress and convert the so-called heretics and blasphemers. Many methods were used, the most famous being torture and execution (though it wasn't common).

I try to bring this up in conversations pertaining to religion every now and then, and am repeatedly disappointed to find that most people don't know enough about this subject. I find the Inquisition to be one of the most interesting subjects concerning religion. So I brought it here, a nexus for intelligent conversation regarding religion.

What's your take? The ethics, the methods, the cause, and so on. And for my religious forum-goers, I have other questions, what was God's plan here? What was the Pope thinking? Is there any viable justification for the radical alterations of the many exposed cultures brought on by the Inquisitors?

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domatron23

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#2 domatron23
Member since 2007 • 6226 Posts
Actually I'm afraid that I know next to nothing about the inquisitions. Sorry to disappoint.
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STWELCH

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#3 STWELCH
Member since 2005 • 4805 Posts

I doubt few people would ever approve of the methods used in the Inquisition; it was grotesque and terrible. As for God's plan, no one knows that; I found that those who say they do, it is surprisingly in line with their own rises to power. One who claims to know God's plan in such detail, and then use it to commit heinous acts on their fellow humans is committing both idolatry and blasphemy, in my mind.

The Inquisitions are all reactionary; they are power plays used by a bourgeois Church to reaffirm their power through force. The Pope's who ordered them were just like any other tyrant who uses the means at his disposal to secure his power. The fact that it used religion as its excuse is moot; it was enough to convince the faithful masses of the necessity of the power plays, but the higher ranking nobles, bishops, etc were primarily in it for political gain.

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Enosh88

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#4 Enosh88
Member since 2008 • 1728 Posts
I read that they aperantly weren't alowed to spill any blood when getting confession (well internal bleeding was a whole diffrent story), so they found some very imaginative ways to inflict pain.
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123625

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#5 123625
Member since 2006 • 9035 Posts
The crusades stole all the glory.
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deactivated-5a79221380856

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#6 deactivated-5a79221380856
Member since 2007 • 13125 Posts
I don't really know. They may have used some biblical support for their actions perhaps, but you'll find someone suggesting that they were quoting the Bible "out of context" and I notice this used a lot as justification for biblical actions that those individuals were quoting the Bible "out of context", rarely explaining what the "proper context" is, as though the Bible is not open to debate (which it is). I'm speaking in generalities though and not about the Holy Inquisition.