Talk:Inquisition

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To be honest, I'm not sure if this should be an Essay: - it felt sort-of like an Essay while writing it, but on the other hand, I don't want to limit the involvement of the honourable mob in it. So, mob input needed, plz. --AKjeldsenGodspeed! 15:41, 22 July 2007 (CDT)

You definitely need more Monty Python and History of the World, Pt. 1. ThunderkatzHo! 15:43, 22 July 2007 (CDT)
Yes, indeed. And more goat. --AKjeldsenGodspeed! 15:49, 22 July 2007 (CDT)
Well, I like it, and since the Spanish flavor is the only one I know anything about, having been particularly significant for my ethnic group, I look forward to reading the rest. I wouldn't essay it. Just RWify it a bit as time goes on.--PalMD-Goatspeed! 17:05, 22 July 2007 (CDT)
If you know something about the Spanish version, maybe you'd like to write a bit about it, too? My area of expertise tends to diminish rather dramatically just there by the middle of the 15th century, unfortunately. --AKjeldsenGodspeed! 18:00, 22 July 2007 (CDT)
My knowledge is limited to significantly more than the layperson, and nothing next to an historian.--PalMD-Goatspeed! 20:15, 24 July 2007 (CDT)

Giordano Bruno[edit]

I'm going to remove the uncited statement about his heresy charge having more to do with transubstantiation than planets. All I can find is that he was charged with impiety for his transubstantiation views and fled Rome for that reason, not that it was a direct reason for his charge of heresy. Unless anyone has further information? -Smyth 12:55, 28 September 2007 (EDT)

Not as such - however, it seems relatively unlikely that his cosmology in itself would have been sufficient for a charge for heresy, not to mention capital punishment. The whole question of heliocentrism and other inhabited worlds and such was not really an important theological question yet for the Church, and didn't become so until the Galileo trial thirty years later. On the other hand, questions regarding the transubstantiation, the Trinity, were very important issues for the Inquisition, so I would expect those to have been the important parts of the trial. Besides, it somehow doesn't really make sense that Urban VIII in 1623 would encourage Galileo to at least discuss heliocentrism if a similar question had been a deciding factor in Bruno's execution only 20 years earlier - if you catch my drift. --AKjeldsenGodspeed! 15:33, 28 September 2007 (EDT)
Makes sense. I'll keep digging then. Thanks. -Smyth 15:45, 28 September 2007 (EDT)

Inquisition apologetics[edit]

"This approach may seem intolerant to modern mentalities, but in the view of at least two historians,[2] it seems more productive to try to understand the motivations and world view of these people, rather than simply condemn them for not living up to modern standards." Who wrote that bootlicking drivel? The Inquisition was evil by view of then-contemporary and even ancient standards. This and other mealy-mouthed apologies in this article makes me nauseous. Dr. Swordopolis (talk) 19:10, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia too has that crap, the talk page and it's archive (on wikipedia) is fairly illuminating. My favourite: "It is crazy not to put to death people who can kill and maim you from a distance by muttering incantations or whatever. We believe that this view is mistaken nowdays and we don't do it anymore. But since they did believe it, they would have been stupid to do otherwise. The problem we have with the Salem witch trials is lousy trial procedures, not mistaken capability. The trial procedures of Europe were usually better. And yes, every one of the witches killed were innocent. BTW they killed people for burglary, picking pockets, etc. People imprisoned for debt often died there. So did everyone else that didn't have someone on the outside supporting them since the prisons didn't supply food! That's the sort of thing that makes them medieval. Without medievalism, we wouldn't be where we are today. That is what history is all about. It's not about pointing fingers! Student7 (talk) 20:56, 21 March 2008 (UTC)". Yeah lets burn 'em at the stake, or rather, hand them to the civil authorities for burning because it'd be unchristian to burn them yourself. Classic problem with wikis: a big special interests group cares much more about an article than anyone else does, the article becomes an apologetics piece. Dmytry (talk) 15:43, 9 October 2014 (UTC)
Also, Wikipedia got Historical revision of the Inquisition which takes most of the pounding. Dmytry (talk) 16:48, 9 October 2014 (UTC)