What was the Inquisition?

Answer 1

A lot of torture and killing of"pagans" in the name of the holy church.

Answer 2

The Inquisition has been the source of misinformation and propaganda for 400 years.

Here is the short answer:

Jews and Muslems were pretending to be Christians in order to gain political power, and they were committing a form of treason. They had to be found in order to protect society.

There where abuses during the Inquisition and the Crusades, but not nearly as much as the anti-catholics suggest.

The best history scholars estimate that maybe 4000 or so people were executed during the Inquisition and most of those were in the Spanish Inquisition which was CONDEMNED by the Pope at the time. The numbers that are suggested by anti-Catholics are so ridiculous, they exceed the entire population of all of Europe.

Execution NEVER WAS and never will be a penalty in the Church for heresy or anything else. The most severe penalty in the Church is excommunication.

Those persons during the Inquisition who were executed were killed by the State, not the Church. Yes, there were clerics who conspired with the State to execute some people. The most famous case of that was Joan of Arc. Those clerics who did such things were sinning against God, the Church, and the person executed.

Joan of Arc did not die by Church policy, but by the corrupt hands of the State and an individual bishop and inquisitor.
Were there abuses during the Inquisition? Yes. Men are sinners and wherever men are, sin will be present. Sinful behavior is not church policy.

Here is the long answer:

Professor James Hitchcock is professor of history at St. Louis University

The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition
http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Dossier/1112-96/article4.html

http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Dossier/1112-96/column1.html

People get very emotional and angry at the Church for something that never happened, because they read about it on some hate book whose author has no credentials.

Answer 3

Begun in the Late Middle Ages as an attempt to remove Moorish influence from newly freed Spain, it sadly degenerated into religious intolerance especially aimed at Jews. They seem to be everyone's favorite whipping boy, right up to today, if you count all those Muslims who want them driven into the sea.

Much has been written and clucked over about its harshness, but please remember, the Inquisition was no worse than the Salem witch trials or the persecution of Catholics in Ireland or the witch hunts of Cromwellian England. In fact, witch hunting remained a popular sport in England until half way through the 19th century, loooong after the Inquisition was a ghost from the past. The last recorded burning of a heretic or a witch was in 1839, in Yorkshire, England. So let's don't all assume that Catholics are the only ones with a yen for barbecuing unbelievers.

Answer 4

So far , you've gotten 2 different lines of reasoning ; That the Spanish government was protecting the country from muslims and Jews and that only some of the Catholic inquisitors were guilty of murdering thousands of civilians against the Pope's wishes OR That it was a criminal court set up to find heretics and disguised as a witchhunt which resulted in the deaths of thousands.

Either way, lots of innocents died because of the Church and State deciding they had the right to kill others for their beliefs. Jesus Christ himself was offered all the Kingdoms of the world by the Devil, but refused them, but 800 years later, in Charlemagnes time, the Church was crowning emporors.
This was the time usually referred to as the Dark Ages cause most people couldn't read and write and the Church took advantage of this. They were rich and powerful and resisted any threats to their traditions which led to the burnings and torture of people who tried to translate the Bible into the common tongues from the unreadable latin. The Catholic Church has even apologised for imprisoning people such as Galileo for teaching that the earth revolved around the sun.
I have no hatred for Catholics, i'm just mentioning history here. The Inquisition is an example of an error that Jesus Christ prophesied about at John 16; 1 These things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God. 3 And these things will they do to you; because they have not known the Father, nor me.

Answer 5

There were actually several including the Spanish, Portuguese, Medeival, and Roman Inquisition. But the term iself is only concerned with rooting out heresy.

Inquisition (capitalized I) is broadly used, to refer to things related to judgment of 'heresy' by the Catholic Church. It can mean an ecclesiastical tribunal or institution from the Roman Catholic Church for combating or suppressing heresy, a number of historical expurgation movements against heresy (orchestrated by the Roman Catholic Church), or the trial conducted against a heretic.

Also see myths about "The Inquisition" to which you might be referring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inquisition_Myth#The_Creation_of_.22The_Inquisition.22

Answer 6

Oppression of anything the church decided was Pagan. Often accompanied by war, torture, execution, etc. It was something so terrible that even Christians suffered the effects of the Inquisition if they did anything the church disliked.

It's generally considered one of the worst times in history. Though most will tell you it's still going on but the church has lost much of it's power so they aren't able to do things like war, torture, and execution (in most cases) anymore.

And contrary to popular Christian opinion (lies and bad information), the first execution sponsored for the church for heresay...

The first heretic to be executed was Priscillian of Avila.

Another heretic to be executed in 1600 was Giordano Bruno who is seen by some as a martyr to the cause of free thought.

The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that "various penal laws were enacted by the Christian emperors against heretics as being guilty of crime against the State. In both the Theodosian and Justinian codes they were styled infamous persons ... In some particularly aggravated cases sentence of death was pronounced upon heretics, though seldom executed in the time of the Christian emperors of Rome." Though the death penalty was seldom executed during the Early Middle Ages, these laws nonetheless later served as the basis of the prosecution of heretics, especially after Emperor Frederick II had confirmed these rulings.

And yes, though that link is from wikipedia, it does cite sources for all it's claims.

Answer 7

The Inquisition was a witch hunt sponsored by the Spanish King and Queen and administered by the notorious Torquemada.

Answer 8

It was a court set up in Spain and France, administered by the state, primarily to try cases of heresy, since heresy was viewed as a threat to the unity and security of the state. Some of the penalties imposed on repeat offenders were harsh by today's standards, but not by the standards of the day, where a man could be hanged by a civil court for stealing a chicken.

Answer 9

Did you know that the Pope sent out St. Bernard of Clairvoix to try to put a damper on this mess that was being created by this inquisition? He traveled all over Europe trying to correct things. A little known fact because people love to spread the dirt more than anything else. I have often wondered, because of this St.s travels over mountain ranges, if this is where they got the name for the lifesaving dogs? Who knows?

Answer 10

It was a movement in Spain after they re-conquered their country from the Moorish Moslems and re-established christianity throughout. the Inquisition tried to eliminate heresies and to strengthen the Catholicfaith of the people. torture was used in many cases.

Answer 11

Read "A History of Christianity" Vol. 1 by Kenneth Scott LaTourette and
"A History of Christianity" Vol. 2 by Kenneth Scott LaTourette