If there was no persecution of pagans by the church, as claimed by The Da Vinci Code, why did so many people confess to being involved in witchcraft?
2006-10-23 22:04:12 · 7 answers · asked by dec g 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
Given enough torture, you could get the Pope himself to admit to being Satan's right hand.
It was, in many cases, a catch-22. People accused (for a variety of reasons) were often tortured until they confessed to whatever their captors wanted to hear. Maintain your innocence - and you'll just be tortured more, potentially until death. Sometimes, you'd actually get off light if you admitted upfront that you were involved in witchcraft - confess, repent, and you might get by with a relatively light penance. Sure, it's not true, but it'd a better alternative than drawing it out.
Yes, there probably were a few Pagans running about here and there. And there were plenty of Pagan practices that had been subsumed into folk practices. But nothing on the order of the 9 million number that get bantered around in the book - that number is so immensely off that it's not funny. The Inquisition claimed somewhere between 1/2 and 3 million, based on more recent studies, and if more than 1% of those were truely Pagan, I'd be *very* surprised.
2006-10-24 03:53:40 · answer #1 · answered by ArcadianStormcrow 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hi there;
The people persecuted by the church during the burning times were for the most part, christians. The confessions were by means of torture. Anyone will confess to anything when the means that the church officials used are applied.
Yes, the pagans were burned as well as most of the women of those times. All it took was one mean spirited person and a wave of hysteria would bring about mass burnings and hangings. It was a very bad time to be non christian and or a woman.
2006-10-23 22:11:38 · answer #2 · answered by snowelprd 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there has been plenty of persecution of many different religions by many others, the reason why people confessed to being involved in witchcraft is cos the big man with the hot poker asked them to.
2006-10-24 01:18:33 · answer #3 · answered by blue_cabbage 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there was persecution of pagans by the church it is well documented and hunny the davinci code is a book it says its fiction in plain printed English, i know its kinda cool to think about it and yes many people believe that it is true but it came out of the mans imagination! that's it, sorry!
and sweetie if i was beating you with ropes and whips and on the verge of killing you, believe me you would confess to anything i told you to if it would stop the pain.
2006-10-23 22:15:19 · answer #4 · answered by Jeremysmom05 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There has been persecution of one faith by another wherever they have come into conflict for all of time.
And the DVC is a novel. That means it's not true in every detail. If everyone could just realise that, there'd have been a lot less fuss about a very average book!
2006-10-23 22:09:31 · answer #5 · answered by gvih2g2 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They confessed under torture.
One crackpot method to find out if someone was a witch was this; If tied up and thrown into water you sank to the bottom and drowned, then you weren't a witch. If you floted on the top you were a witch and burned at the stake. Mental!
2006-10-24 00:43:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
the real question should be'who were the pagans here?'
conjecture-that's all it is!
2006-10-23 22:14:16 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋