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The hardest penalty the Inquisition had was excommunication, and that was applied rarely.

When we were little and got in trouble (fighting with each other, disobedience, etc.) we were sometimes given the choice of punishments. We could either get a spanking with the belt by Dad or have to spend all day Saturday in our rooms. We always picked restrictions because nobody liked getting hit with the belt by Dad.

Saying The hardest penalty the Inquisition had was excommunication, and that was applied rarely is kind of like asking a person do you want to be tortured or be excommunicated? Many styles of torture had been invented during the inquisition so as to inflict the most horrific pain on the poor victim without killing them.

From the source: www.paralumun.com/inquisition.htm comes:

Millions of innocent people were tortured and murdered during the inquisition. The inquisitors followed procedures set forth by the Dominican monks of Pope Innocent V111. At first the poor accused were told to confess. They were then stripped naked, shaved, pricked with needles for insensitive spots and then examined for marks of the devil.

Before the torture started, the victim was told what was about to happen and in many cases this forced the accused to commit to whatever the inquisitors wanted.

It was noted that a person who refused to talk even under torture was being aided by the devil. While the poor victim was being tortured a clerk recorded what was said. In many cases the clerk recorded things that were not even said.

Each subsequent round of torture was much worse than the one before. The torturer was paid out of seized funds belonging to the victim. If the victim had no money then the relatives were made to pay.

While the poor victims screamed with pain the childish torturers carried on like sadistic maniacs. They sprayed their instruments with so called holy water, wore amulets, herbs and crossed themselves. The exact method of torture varied from place to place. The rack was well used in France during the inquisition.

Some victims were horsewhipped. A sharp iron fork was used to mangle breasts. Red hot pincers were used to tear off flesh. Red hot irons were inserted up (body cavities). A device named the turcas was used to tear out fingernails.

After the nails were ripped out needles were shoved into the quicks. Boots called bootikens were used to lacerate flesh and crush bone. Thumbscrews were used to crush the fingers and toes. Acid was poured on victims and hands were immersed into pots of boiling oil and water.

Eyes were gouged out by irons. Alcohol was poured on the head of the poor victim and set alight. Water was poured down the victims throat with a knotted cloth. The cloth was then jerked out tearing up the victims bowels.

There was no limit to the types and cruelty of the tortures. The inquisition meant anything was allowed. The inquisitors were sadistic and mentally disturbed.

From the book The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe, page 80 , Victims were tortured in one room, then, if they confessed, they were led away from the chamber into another room to confess to the inquisitors. This way it could be claimed the confessions were given without the use of force. The Inquisitional law replaced common law. Instead of innocent until proven guilty, it was guilty until proven innocent.

Inquisitors grew very rich, accepting bribes and fines from the wealthy who paid to avoid being prosecuted. The wealthy were prime targets for the church who confiscated their property, land and everything they had for generations. The Inquisition took over all of the victims' possessions upon accusation. There was very little if any chance of proving ones self innocent, so this is one way the catholic church grew very wealthy. Pope Innocent stated that since "god" punished children for the sins of their parents, they had no right to be legal heirs to the property of their parents. Unless children came forth freely to denounce their parents, they were left penniless. Inquisitors even accused the dead of heresy, in some cases, as much as seventy years after their death. They exhumed and burned the accused's bones and confiscated all property from their heirs, leaving them with nothing.

So if I was faced with the option of torture or excommunication, I'd take the out simply because I believe in what Scripture teaches and the Holy Spirit illuminates the truth in my heart. I do not need to be formally bound to a religion to be in a relationship wit God. If my choice instead is confess and forsake my faith in favor of the one in charge for the time that I know is wrong or else suffer death, there's no contest. I will die for my faith. I would refuse to allow anyone to force me to give up the truth of the Gospel.

Just doing the little reading online to put this post together made me sick. That people, who claimed to be followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, became so overcome with power, greed, blood lust, whatever, that they did these things under the illusion that they were doing it for Him, for his glory was quite disturbing. I really don't care what the times were like back then, I cannot imagine any excuse that can rationalize or justified the barbarity that was done.

I can hardly believe some actually here on this thread are advocating for its comeback. They should be ashamed and take some time off to understand what evil has taken hold of them to even bring up the idea in the first place.