How should Catholics view the Inquisition?

[JDaniel]

Well, kindly offer your explanation as to why that specific Quranic verse is wrong. If anything, it is in perfect conformity with Church teaching regarding the Communion of Saints. A sin against one person adversely impacts the whole community of the faithful (in ways we can or can not see), whilst a good deed to one person benefits the whole community of the faithful (in ways we can or can not see). Simply because the verse comes from the Quran does not make it incorrect. Even Pope John Paul II kissed the Quran, so I don’t understand your nihilism to what the Quran has to say. Again, please offer your explanation as to why you think the verse is wrong.

Actually, BB, I was not referring to any specific verse, Koranic or otherwise. I know Aquinas would not have left such a naked assertion behind, as a naked assertion. So, I put clothes on it.

No, Adolf Hitler isn’t representative of Catholics and never once have I said Adolf Hitler was representative of Catholics. Actually, Hitler’s personal life is very intriguing because on the one hand he was raised as a Catholic, but on the other hand there is evidence to suggest he was an atheist. Not to mention the fact that Hitler was involved in the occult (Nazism is an occult belief) and some reports have emerged that the incumbent pope at the time tried to exorcize him remotely. So I wouldn’t use Adolf Hitler to represent the Church, and indeed I haven’t. From my own experience, those who tend to refer to the religions (or lack thereof) of dictators like Hitler, Stalin, etc, often have an ulterior motive of deliberately painting the religion (or lack thereof) in a negative light.

My compliments on a good, coherent statement. I concur.

jd

 

[JDaniel]

I just reviewed this thread and I didn’t/wasn’t even responding to you . I didn’t even notice you posted on the first page. Seems to me you just wanted to start a debate for debate’s sake

*Edit: Read post #17 again. It was clearly in reference to Semper Zelare. If I was referring to you, I would have quoted you.

lol, pretty funny as I was thinking “who is JDaniel”. Then I thought it might be a duplicate account of Semper Zelare, only to then realize the locations were different .

My apologies, BB. But I had to know.

jd

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

Actually, BB, I was not referring to any specific verse, Koranic or otherwise. I know Aquinas would not have left such a naked assertion behind, as a naked assertion. So, I put clothes on it.

Maybe because I wasn’t referring to your post lol . Semper Zelare will have an idea of what I’m saying. I never even knew you posted on this thread…I was so confused when you said I made an “askance shot” at your post. I was thinking…“who is JDaniel”. At first, I thought you were a duplicate of Semper Zemplare, but then I realized the information you put into your location was different from Semper Zelare. So it seems to me you’ve clearly overreacted. Even now, I haven’t read the post you put on the first page.

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

My apologies, BB. But I had to know.

jd

Okay. No worries

 

[blueadept]

Quite frankly, there are historical evidences of prisoners who were executed under the auspices of Kingdoms, Principalities, militaries, etc. who would have preferred the Inquisition because it was more humane. Likewise, there were heretics who were killed by the Inquisition who said they were thankful it was at the hands of the Inquisition and not under governments at the time.

When non-Catholics want to make a point of the blood shed that happened due to the Inquisition, I usually point out that there were people who got into trouble with the local authorities who preferred their case be taken care by the Church Inquisition. If history paints such an ugly case against the Inquisition, why would the people choose the Church to look at the case? So in a warped sense, the Inquisition may have saved lives that would have otherwise been forfeited.

I’ve seen the numbers for the deaths attributed to the Inquisitions to be between 2,000 and 100,000 depending upon the source. So I’m speculating that it may have been around 10,000 which makes it worse than people try to make it but not as horrendous as others try to make. The bottom line is that Catholics should recognize the issue of the Inquisition as a definite ‘skeleton in our closet’ but put the best light on it in understanding our Catholic history.

 

[PiousTemplar]

No, you can’t. Philosophy is Greek for “love of wisdom”. It’s not a subject that you can believe in anything you want. It is not a free-for-all. If what you believe in doesn’t stand up to logical scrutiny, then it is discarded.

 

[PiousTemplar]

That wasn’t the point. The point I was making was you can’t claim the ecc. courts were enlightened for “their time”, as to make such suggestion is to promote subjective morality. If you believe in objective morality, then wrong is wrong, whatever the age and right is right, whatever the age. You can not draw distinctions.

No, if you had actually read previous posts, that is not subjective morality. They had the same objective morals back then given to them by the Catholic Church, their understanding on implementing these morals was simply different. Yes, I believe in objective morality of course. But there is no simply list of “do’s and don’ts” covering every issue that humanity will ever come across. The Church, and even at times the people themselves, had to interpret the objective moral truths it was given to figure out wether a specific issue at hand is in fact ‘immoral’.

Islamic Sharia Law and the Inquisition aren’t that

different. You are speaking from a Catholic point of view. And for all intents and purposes, a Muslim will respond to your claim of brutality with Sharia Law by mentioning what Jesus says about the relative importance of a body limb in comparison to one’s eternal fate:

Of course I am speaking from a Catholic point of view, just like you are speaking from an atheistic point of view. As I said in the last post, by using that reasoning to compare the two institutions in practice is very flawed. It works on the basis of ‘They both claim to be working for God, therefore, they are the same’.

The fact remains that the philosophical underpinnings between sharia law and the inquisition are equivalent. Both assert they are doing God’s work so that they are ready for the afterlife. Why are you afraid of the association with Islam, unless of course you know that the Inquisition was essentially the same?

As I said, comparing the underlyings of both institutions show they are both philosophically the same, but only in that regard. Looking it at a historical point of view rather than a philosophical one shows that the Inquisition was far less brutal, and in that regard, they are not the same.