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The Inquisition was a merciful institution, say historians
According to Thomas Madden writing at NRO, the Inquisition, including the Spanish Inquisition, was not so bad after all. In fact it was one of the more enlightened institutions of its day, saving many thousands of lives by transferring heresy trials from secular courts where accused heretics were indiscriminately executed, to Church courts which treated the accused as lost sheep needing to return to the fold. Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 21, 2004 08:09 AM | Send Comments
You can see my comments and excerpts from other articles on the Inquisition here. http://mangans.blogspot.com/2004/06/inquisition-vatican-has-just-published.html Posted by: Dennis Mangan on June 21, 2004 10:54 AMAt last Joseph de Maistre is vindicated! : ”(…) il ne peut y avoir dans l´univers rien de plus calme, de plus circonspect, de plus humain par nature que le tribunal de l´Inquisition.” “Lettres à un gentilhomme russe sur l´Inquisition espagnole” Joseph de Maistre See here: http://abu.cnam.fr/BIB/auteurs/maistrej.html On de Maistre: Fascinating article. Thanks for the good read. Posted by: Dan on June 21, 2004 6:49 PMIt is gratifying to note that in the long list of atrocities committed in the name of religion, the Inquisition was nothing more than an enlightened process of reeducation. Posted by: Timegrid on June 22, 2004 10:34 PMI agree that the article, in trying to cast the Inquisition in a more positive light, went too far and ended up trying to make it sound anodyne. However, I wonder whether Timegrid, in speaking of the “long list of atrocities commited in the name of religion,” is making a finite criticism of religion, specifically Christianity, or expressing hostility to Christianity as such. Posted by: Lawrence Auster on June 22, 2004 10:42 PM |