[conservonator]

Has anyone done a study juxtaposing the Catholic office of the Inquisition with its protestant counterparts? Since the entire concept of the Inquisition and particularly the Spanish Inquisition has been used as a club against the Church, I would be interested in an objective study.

It would also be interesting to find out what some of the non-Catholic posters have to say about this BBC investigation.

[pseudo-justin]

The Protestant Inquisition

[Aquinasfan]

It would also be interesting to find out what some of the non-Catholic posters have to say about this BBC investigation.

It certainly would be. < /crickets chirping>

[Ramius]

It would also be interesting to find out what some of the non-Catholic posters have to say about this BBC investigation.

Well, ~I~ am not a Catholic, and I think this is a very interesting topic, likely closer to the truth than the various caricaturish Inquisition histories have been.

I've heard analyses like this before and I have no trouble believing that the legends grown up around the Inquisition are very probably inaccurate and overblown. Were some atrocities committed? Probably. Was it as bad as we learned in gradeschool? Probably not.

Many people blame religion for sponsoring atrocites throughout history. Rubbish. Men commit such things. Anti religious zealots of communism killed more people in worse ways than any "inquisition" or "crusade" could ever have dreamed.

History, in the final analysis, is driven by the hearts of men. Wars are fought for territory and resources-- whether it was Vikings, Moors, French, Germans, English or Americans. This is including the Crusades, and in fact, the Spanish Inquistion. None are quite so evil or so good as cast by storytellers, each with agendas of their own.