Tribunals' holy terror

Catholic church's bloody campaigns of enforced orthodoxy were bad policy but make great TV Four-part series pulls few punches exploring brutal efforts to eradicate heresy, writes Ron Csillag

Jan. 28, 2006. 01:00 AM

The word itself is cringe-inducing: inquisition. Put a historical and religious spin on it, and it yields a reign of terror that lasted for more than 600 years, a campaign by the Roman Catholic Church of enforced orthodoxy that let loose persecution, dread and death on untold thousands accused of heresy. Those lucky enough to have escaped being burned or boiled alive were nonetheless ruined through imprisonment and confiscation of property. Whole populations were driven from their homelands in the name of piety and purity. The Inquisition — not limited to Spain as many might believe — was horrible and cruel and shatteringly un-Christian. It earned the Catholic Church a black eye that is remembered to this day.

"We live in a world where the president of the United States has called for a `crusade' and where Islamic fundamentalists are calling for jihad — holy war. When we think about this terminology and what it represents, relating to the history of the Inquisition as one of the major tools of holy wars and crusades, all of humankind needs to work a little harder."

inquisition