Why would anyone defend the inquisition?
The best I’ve heard anyone say is “it wasn’t that bad”. But no one wants to be on the receiving end.
Its one thing to recognize that people are human and the totalitarian tendencies run deep. Its another to imagine that the guy lighting the fire under the stake is doing so under the urgings of the Holy Spirit.
The inquisition did give Monty Python and Mel Brooks good opportunities for Ironic comedy routines. Vincent Price also got a good movie out of it, by way of “The Fall of the House of Usher” by way of Edgar Allen Poe.
They were, normally relatively kind to the unfortunate mentally ill people who were represented as witches. They were more cruel to Jews who falsely pretended to convert for tax benefits. Tax dodging is usually harshly punished.
I would argue the contrary. “Totalitarian tendencies” (extreme hostility to contrary thought) represent the most shallow reaction imaginable.