catholic inquisition

What was the reasons behind "The Church" in torturing and killing thousands of people in the name of God?

Its interesting who you ask, this is what the Catholic site says (i just copied a bit)

Inquisition
(Latin inquirere, to look to).

By this term is usually meant a special ecclesiastical institution for combating or suppressing heresy. Its characteristic mark seems to be the bestowal on special judges of judicial powers in matters of faith, and this by supreme ecclesiastical authority, not temporal or for individual cases, but as a universal and permanent office. Moderns experience difficulty in understanding this institution, because they have, to no small extent, lost sight of two facts.

On the one hand they have ceased to grasp religious belief as something objective, as the gift of God, and therefore outside the realm of free private judgment; on the other they no longer see in the Church a society perfect and sovereign, based substantially on a pure and authentic Revelation, whose first most important duty must naturally be to retain unsullied this original deposit of faith. Before the religious revolution of the sixteenth century these views were still common to all Christians; that orthodoxy should be maintained at any cost seemed self-evident.

However, while the positive suppression of heresy by ecclesiastical and civil authority in Christian society is as old as the Church, the Inquisition as a distinct ecclesiastical tribunal is of much later origin. Historically it is a phase in the growth of ecclesiastical legislation, whose distinctive traits can be fully understood only by a careful study of the conditions amid which it grew up. Our subject may, therefore, be conveniently treated as follows:

I. The Suppression of Heresy during the first twelve Christian centuries;
II. The Suppression of Heresy by the Institution known as the Inquisition under its several forms:
(A) The Inquisition of the Middle Ages;
(B) The Inquisition in Spain;
(C) The Holy Office at Rome.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08026a.h tm

And this is how the Jewish community sees it:
The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused.

While many people associate the Inquisition with Spain and Portugal, it was actually instituted by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) in Rome. A later pope, Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition, in 1233, to combat the heresy of the Abilgenses, a religious sect in France. By 1255, the Inquisition was in full gear throughout Central and Western Europe; although it was never instituted in England or Scandinavia.

Initially a tribunal would open at a location and an edict of grace would be published calling upon those who are conscious of heresy to confess; after a period of grace, the tribunal officers could make accusations. Those accused of heresy were sentenced at an auto de fe, Act of Faith. Clergyman would sit at the proceedings and would deliver the punishments. Punishments included confinement to dungeons, physical abuse and torture. Those who reconciled with the church were still punished and many had their property confiscated, as well as were banished from public life. Those who never confessed were burned at the stake without strangulation; those who did confess were strangled first. During the 16th and 17th centuries, attendance at auto de fe reached as high as the attendance at bullfights.

In the beginning, the Inquisition dealt only with Christian heretics and did not interfere with the affairs of Jews. However, disputes about Maimonides’ books (which addressed the synthesis of Judaism and other cultures) provided a pretext for harassing Jews and, in 1242, the Inquisition condemned the Talmud and burned thousands of volumes. In 1288, the first mass burning of Jews on the stake took place in France.

In 1481 the Inquisition started in Spain and ultimately surpassed the medieval.......
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsou rce/History/Inquisition.html

In any way you look at it, it was a horrendous time for Jews and other sections of the Christian religion who did not obey the Catholic church. Many thousands of people were killed in the name of God.

2008-03-17 07:28:43 by leslewis65

Most people have some knowledge of the holocaust. The 6 years of torture and atrocities that the Jews suffered under Hitler and the Nazis during ...

The Roman Catholic Church began the Catholic Inquisition, the Inquisition was charged with discovering, trying, convicting, torturing and killing of all persons who did not convert to the Catholic faith, heretics, pagans, all free-thinking people, scholars, etc, and for over 300 years, about 50,000 innocent people were burned alive at the stake.

Ohh My Goodness, Catholic 2 is so Incorrect.
The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic invention intended to root out all sorts of "heresies." The Inquisition used torturous means to force confessions out of people. Thousands were killed mercilessly and unjustly.

The Protestant Reformation distances itself from the Catholic Inquisition. However, it has its own sordid history and the witch trials we had here in America among some Puritans is an example. They allowed their paranoia and ignorance to overtake reason and scripture. As a result, many people were killed because they were accused of being witches -- and they weren't.

Again, this does not mean that Christianity is false anymore than the police force is false because one or two cops did bad things in the name of the law. Instead of looking at the two cops, the whole of the police force, its goals, other cops, and its history of sacrifice and protection must be examined as well. The same as Christianity. It has a great history of helping countless people, establishing orphanages, building shelters, helping famine ravaged countries, and seeking to aid the downtrodden.

If anyone wishes to condemn Christianity because of the failures of its members, then will they also look at its successes and approve of Christianity? It would only be fair to look at the whole of Christian history and more importantly at what the Bible actually teaches, in particular the New Testament, from which Christianity is derived.

Believe in Christianity because Jesus Christ claimed to be God in flesh, died for our sins, rose from the dead, and has given us the New Testament. Believe in Jesus because He performed miracles in front of eyewitnesses, and He said that He was the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Believe Christianity because of who Jesus is, not because of what some so called Christians did in error.

2009-05-23 20:21:54 by greg_novella

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To root out heresy and ensure orthodoxy in the Church.

Of course that was the nominal reason. Most of the time, it was an excuse to shut people up who were saying things they didn't like.

Individual inquisitors also used it to torture and kill people they didn't like, or people they had grudges against.

2009-02-02 12:51:16 by Jake P

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They are disobeying what Jesus taught, and I cannot be part of any church like that. I would rather not go to church than to go to one of those. To me that is murder and no murderer as eternal life that says it all, may God be true and everyone else who teach that a liar.
When I say trust I mean their teachings.

how do you think you (we) were freed from catholicism? the Protestants and Martin Luther a catholic monk, witnessed first hand the RCC's corruptions and changes to God's Word and Law, I'll agree that some denominations today have not sought and recognized the full Truth, but can you imagine a world still held captive by false doctrine and massive man made traditions? Seek deeper as God tells us all to do or be decieved, this is why He told us to so, God Bless and Happy Sabbath

2009-09-12 17:34:33 by China Doll 3

Did the Roman Catholic Church begin the Catholic Inquisition?

Was the Inquisition charged with discovering, trying, convicting, torturing and killing of all persons who did not convert to the Catholic faith, heretics, pagans, all free-thinking people, scholars, etc?

Did, for 300 years, the Inquisition burn about 50,000 innocent people at the stake?

Yes, it happened but not as most people believe.

Modern historians have long known that the popular view of the Inquisition is a myth. The Inquisition was actually an attempt by the Catholic Church to stop unjust executions.

Heresy was a capital offense against the state. Rulers of the state, whose authority was believed to come from God, had no patience for heretics. Neither did common people, who saw heretics as dangerous outsiders who would bring down divine wrath.

When someone was accused of heresy in the early Middle Ages, they were brought to the local lord for judgment, just as if they had stolen a pig. It was not easy to discern whether the accused was really a heretic. The lord needed some basic theological training, very few did. The sad result is that uncounted thousands across Europe were executed by secular authorities without fair trials or a competent judge of the crime.

The Catholic Church's response to this problem was the Inquisition, an attempt to provide fair trials for accused heretics using laws of evidence and presided over by knowledgeable judges.

From the perspective of secular authorities, heretics were traitors to God and the king and therefore deserved death. From the perspective of the Church, however, heretics were lost sheep who had strayed from the flock. As shepherds, the pope and bishops had a duty to bring them back into the fold, just as the Good Shepherd had commanded them. So, while medieval secular leaders were trying to safeguard their kingdoms, the Church was trying to save souls. The Inquisition provided a means for heretics to escape death and return to the community.

Most people tried for heresy by the Inquisition were either acquitted or had their sentences suspended. Those found guilty of grave error were allowed to confess their sin, do penance, and be restored to the Body of Christ. The underlying assumption of the Inquisition was that, like lost sheep, heretics had simply strayed.

If, however, an inquisitor determined that a particular sheep had purposely left the flock, there was nothing more that could be done. Unrepentant or obstinate heretics were excommunicated and given over to secular authorities. Despite popular myth, the Inquisition did not burn heretics. It was the secular authorities that held heresy to be a capital offense, not the Church. The simple fact is that the medieval Inquisition saved uncounted thousands of innocent (and even not-so-innocent) people who would otherwise have been roasted by secular lords or mob rule.

Where did this myth come from? After 1530, the Inquisition began to turn its attention to the new heresy of Lutheranism. It was the Protestant Reformation and the rivalries it spawned that would give birth to the myth. Innumerable books and pamphlets poured from the printing presses of Protestant countries at war with Spain accusing the Spanish Inquisition of inhuman depravity and horrible atrocities in the New World.

For more information, see:
The Real Inquisition, By Thomas F. Madden, National Review (2004) http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/ma dden200406181026.asp
Inquisition by Edward Peters (1988)
The Spanish Inquisition by Henry Kamen (1997)
The Spanish Inquisition: Fact Versus Fiction, By Marvin R. O'Connell (1996): http://www.catholiceducation.org/article s/history/world/wh0026.html

With love in Christ.

2009-05-24 02:33:57 by greg_novella