The Inquisition

[Gottle_of_Geer]

stanley123:

Were Jews ever forced to convert against their will? And then when they protested were tortured by the inquisition?

The Spanish Inqusition began life as a means of weeding out Jews who kept up their practice of Judaism as Christians. A great many were burned in the first 40 years​

See also jewishhistory.org.il/1480.htm

Same site:

1412 January 2, FRA VINCENT FERRER (Castile, Spain) A Dominican friar who threatened and forced Jews into mass conversions. Ferrer would preach in synagogues with a Torah in one hand and a cross in the other. Together with Paul of Burgos (de Santa Maria) they instituted 24 edicts against the Jews in order to drive them to Christianity. These included a ban on working in handicrafts, trading in wine, flour, meat or bread, carrying arms, shaving, leaving the country, etc. Punishment was 100 lashes and a fine. The king, John II of Castile, was a child ruled by his mother Catherine and his uncle, Ferdinand I.

• the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the saint ignores the coercion

davidsconsultants.com/jewishhistory/history.php?search=1509++Lisbon&dosearch.x=10&dosearch.y=18

• information about Jews in Lisbon; including this:

1630 January 15, SANTA ENGRACIA (Lisbon, Portugal)

Simon dias Solis, a young New Christian seen near the local church (on his way to a rendezvous with a young woman) was arrested for allegedly stealing a silver vessel from the church. After his hands were cut off, he was dragged through the streets and then burned. The real culprit, a common (Christian) criminal, admitted to the crime one year later. As a result, Solis’ brother, a friar, fled to Amsterdam and reconverted to Judaism.

The fact is, this martyred people suffered greatly from the Spanish, Portuguese, and Roman Inqusitions.

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

Gottle of Geer:

The fact is, this martyred people suffered greatly from the Spanish, Portuguese, and Roman Inqusitions.

Yes, of course they did, but why should the Church today which composes none of those individuals be held responsible for what happened hundreds of years ago? The Church always seems to be chastized for the sins of a few while never weighing it against the amount of good it has done, such as promoting universities, hospitals, missions, and saving 800,000 Jews during the Holocaust. The Spaniards also suffered greatly under the Muslim Moors. People debating the Inquisition often fail to put it in context. The Spaniards that demanded the Inquisition were a conquered people which were trying to regain their Christian identity after sufferring under Muslim rule for over 800 years. The fact is, at first the Church opposed the Inquisition in Spain. Often times, numbers are very exagerated to the amount of people which were killed. Sometimes I wonder whose side you are on.

 

[swnunley]

## All I can think of is:

Avoid denying the wickedness of the Church’s persecution of the Jews - otherwise, the guilt of the crimes committed by the Church is being aggravated by the guilt of lying in order to pretend it was not as bad as it was.

I never had any intention of denying that Jews were executed by the tribunals of the Inquisition, or that some were brutally tortured. I never said that. But, nor should I beg forgiveness sycophantishly, either. So what does the Inquisition prove? That men are sinful. That men can be overzealous in their protection of church/state. The Inquisition, for all it’s errors, must be looked at from the perspective of those who lived in that time. Heresy was as much a threat to the fabric of society then, as terrorism is today. Also, the methods used to obtain confessions were brutalic to todays standards, they were typical of any court of the day. It was a given that certain methods were used. Someday, our justice and penal system will undoubtedly be judged as inhumane as the Inquisition is today. Looking at it from their perspective, while certainly doesn’t excuse what they did, aids us in understanding their mindset at the time.

I will not ask for forgiveness for something I did not do. The Talmud says that if a man should save even one life, his sins are forgiven. We saved over 3/4 million during the holocaust, and that for every 2 Jews standing in a concentration camp, there was a Catholic.

 

[Lazerlike42]

I get the feeling nobody read this, which was posted by Fidelis a long time ago:

catholic.com/library/Inquisition.asp