what are your thoughts on the salem witch trials?

Question

hundreds of people were witnesses to these so called witches who were put on trial. over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned for practicing witchcraft. wouldn't that seem foolish nowadays since we know there's no such thing as magic, let alone black magic? yet this is something that happened only about 300 years ago. they had just as many witnesses (christian witnesses) as jesus did for his resurrection. and the information was documented much closer to the time of the occurrence, yet we know that the people who accused the victims were full of it, and that there is no such thing as actual "witches," at least none in the fairy tale, spell casting sense of the word.

the is no, i repeat NO such thing as magic... it's fairy tale b.s. sorry to disappoint you. and there is definitely no scientific proof/evidence of it either.

wyomugs, the point of this question is to find out if people actually believe that there were actual witches being arrested and tried during the witch trials. i think most sane people realize that these were not actual witches and that there is no such thing as magic. i pointed out that it was 300 years ago to demonstrate how recent our superstitions as a society have been with us as a society. if people 300 years ago would believe there were actual witches, imagine what people would believe 2000 years ago. no high horse here. just stating the obvious...

Answer 1

Christian Hysteria.

Answer 2

Why is it significant to you that this happened, "only about 300 years ago"? A LOT of things have changed in the last 300 years... HUGE changes.

According to the Wikipedia article, there were many "reasons" the trials happened, political, local, econonmic, religious, and social reasons... of these 5 only one was "religious" in nature! And it was a minister, The Reverend Francis Dane, who led the opposition and supported the accused. And The Reverend Increase Mather published "Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits," also condemning the trials. Frankly, it was the Magistrates (judges) of the day, who examined and interrogated the "accused," and THEN, if the accusations were considered "founded," the accused was then turned over to the SUPERIOR court! These were NOT the RELIGIOUS COURTS. They were the CIVIL courts of the day.

It is YOUR opinion that there is "no such thing" as witches. While the stereotypical broom-riding, green-skinned, caldron-stirring witch may not exist, don't tell Wiccans that witches don't exist. And don't tell witches that witches don't exist... and they WILL tell you that the "black arts" are also practiced, but not by many. Oh, and they DO "cast spells"... I see SO many questions here on R&S asking how to cast spells.

I really don't understand the point of this.... "questiion." You seem to want to condemn all religion because the Salem Witch Trials occurred 300 years ago. While the accusations "sourced" from individuals, the trials were held and proceeded through the CIVIL courts, who then condemned or found innocent. Oh, and of the 150 imprisoned, "only" 29 were executed, which works out to only 19%, thus leaving 81% released!! Furthermore, it was the religious community which STOOD UP to the trials and eventually ENDED them. This doesn't count for anything in your book?

Get off your high-horse. The Salem Witch Trials were a "blip" in the course of history, a minor event!!! Have you counted how many people were murdered by Stalin for the sake of communism? Do you condemn all communists for what Stalin did? What of the 12 million executed in WWII by Hitler and his cronies? Do you condemn all Germans and/or Austrians because of Hilter? How about Japan? What of China? How about Sadaam? Where does your condemnation end? With RELIGION?

Have a blessed day!

Answer 3

Oh, there really are witches, all right. And yes, they cast spells. Whether or not their results can be explained as psychological or coincidence or whatever; they do exist and they do cast spells. They are not, however, brides of Satan or any of that garbage. They are modern pagans who have non-Christian religious beliefs.

But as to the Salem trials, they were closely related to witchcraft trials which took place and were continuing to take place in England at the time. And those I researched as part of my work for my Criminal Law professor many long years ago. The main issue is that the people who testified may indeed have believed what they said, and the rules of evidence were vastly different than they are today. But the conclusion I reached about the English trials, which I assume was probably true of the Salem trials as well, was that many of the "witnesses" were people with a grudge against the accused for some quite non-magical reason. A young and pretty girl might be accused of "bewitching" her neighbor's husband, for example. Or an old and ugly woman would be used as a scapegoat for ones own failures. It has been said that many herbalists were accused because their remedies did not work, and others were accused because their remedies DID work!

There was no rational basis for the accusations. But it's not because witches don't exist, it's because they are quite different from what their accusers imagined.

Answer 4

I wouldn't be so quick to state that there is no such thing as "magic," black or otherwise, because there is definitely a force that one can work with to "conjure" change. The difference between "black magic" and otherwise is the intent of the practitioner. Only those who don't really comprehend what they're working with would consider using ill intent.

I think the witch trials were the result of people's fears of the use of that force by others because they knew that they, themselves, couldn't be trusted with it. It was all basically projection onto others the evils they felt in their own hearts.

Answer 5

i have continuously idea that the acid vacation rationalization replaced into the perfect one, something about the rye interior the storage growing to be ergot fungus (from which LSD is made) - there does no longer were a large quantity of lysergic acid, for this reason, it can make experience for the youngsters to be affected, even as the adults with larger body plenty does no longer be. as far because the expenses and each little thing, i'm nevertheless extremely disgusted with the entire witch hunt element - I mean, in the adventure that they quite were doing the witch element and the colonists' interpretations were perfect, this is troublesome to fault them for doing what they believed they were meant to do (remember the bible passage about no longer suffering a witch to stay? - no longer affirming it is the way we are predicted to act, yet i visit ascertain someone in actual truth believing it is what they're meant to do), yet there have been different opportunities that weren't even seen there - zealots no longer bothering to imagine that they could be incorrect in what they're doing (which we see to on the present time with human beings like terry jones, and so on...)

Answer 6

I think a lot of Christians died because other Christians feared what they did not understand or know.

edit: Just remember, today's science is yesterdays magic. :)

Answer 7

MY Great Great acouple more greats back
Grandmother, was a Mid-wife...and she was jailed for being a witch...and tried and killed...but it was in 1642...people couldn't handle her using herbs to ease pain, so that meant SHE was a witch...DUMB...

Answer 8

to start with, it has been proven magic is real.
i'm a strong believer in witchcraft.

people back then feared what they did not understand.
so, they resulted to killing thing's they were afraid of.

Answer 9

Scientists used to put leaches on sick people and also claimed masturbation made one ill. Wacky stuff.

Answer 10

Belief is a powerful force