Michael Savage likens the Roman Catholic Church to Isis!

Sadly Dr. Savage apparently buys into the discredited “Black Legend” of the Spanish Inquisition. In his newest best-selling book, God, Faith, and Reason,

the conservative commentator makes such outrageous statements as “ . . . Either you believed in what Catholics believed in or they killed you . . . They were very similar to Isis.”
 

He writes the following on page 132 of his book:

  

“The Maranno Jews lived during the Inquisition, when the Catholics were killing anyone who didn't follow their way. They were very much like the radical Muslims today. Yes, there is a precedent for what the radical Muslims are doing today. Either you believed in what Catholics believed in or they killed you. They'd let you convert, but if you didn't they burned you at the stake or had you drawn and quartered. They were very similar to Isis.”

On the contrary, never has the Catholic religion taught or mandated that people must be forced to convert upon pain of death or torture. Dr. Savage's sensationalist rhetoric is entirely misleading and grossly exaggerated. During the 350 years the Inquisition lasted, of course there were abuses. But comparing them to the excesses of what “radical Muslims are doing today” is absurd. Excerpts from three sources are presented below in order to shed some truth and light on what really happened during that period of history.  Like the Crusades, the Inquisition in its concept was essentially good and not evil.

In his article “Whythe Inquisition was Founded,” Hugh O'Reilly writes:

“As the father of Christendom, Pope Gregory IX was anxious to correct the many errors of his time that were poisoning society spiritually and causing people to go astray from the Catholic Faith [Gregory IX reigned from 1227 to 1241.]"

Scene of the Inquisition - Francisco de Goya

“Like Moses in the Old Testament, Gregory IX desired to protect the children of God from error. Like Moses, he ordered an Inquiry, or Inquisition, to be made with all diligence, and he demanded the testimony of at least two witnesses. Like Moses, he insisted that crimes against God should not go unpunished. The parallel stops here. Moses, in much earlier times, had no interest in distinguishing between the penitent and the obstinate, the deceiver and the deceived. He simply commanded the guilty to be stoned to death. Gregory IX’s principal desire was to draw the heretic back into the grace of God. Only in the cases where he insisted on remaining an enemy of God - and, therefore, of society - was he to be cut off from the Church and handed over to the discretion of the State.”

However, when abuses came to the attention of Pope Sixtus IV, he put an end of the Papacy's role in the Inquisition.

Thomas F. Madden writes in Crisis Magazine, in his article “TheTruth about the Spanish Inquisition, that the Inquisition then became an “. . . arm of the Spanish monarchy, separate from ecclesiastical authority. It is odd, then, that the Spanish Inquisition is so often today described as one of the Catholic Church’s great sins. The Catholic Church as an institution had almost nothing to do with it."

“What about the dark dungeons and torture chambers? The Spanish Inquisition had jails, of course. But they were neither especially dark nor dungeon-like. Indeed, as far as prisons go, they were widely considered to be the best in Europe. There were even instances of criminals in Spain purposely blaspheming so as to be transferred to the Inquisition’s prisons. Like all courts in Europe, the Spanish Inquisition used torture. But it did so much less often than other courts. Modern researchers have discovered that the Spanish Inquisition applied torture in only 2 percent of its cases. Each instance of torture was limited to a maximum of 15 minutes. In only 1 percent of the cases was torture applied twice and never for a third time. The inescapable conclusion is that, by the standards of its time, the Spanish Inquisition was positively enlightened. That was the assessment of most Europeans until 1530. . ."

“No major court in Europe executed fewer people than the Spanish Inquisition. This was a time, after all, when damaging shrubs in a public garden in London carried the death penalty. Across Europe, executions were everyday events. But not so with the Spanish Inquisition. In its 350-year lifespan only about 4,000 people were put to the stake [half of those occurred after the Spanish monarchy took control]."

“Although the Spanish defeated Protestants on the battlefield, they would lose the propaganda war. These were the years when the famous “Black Legend” of Spain was forged. Innumerable books and pamphlets poured from northern presses accusing the Spanish Empire of inhuman depravity and horrible atrocities in the New World. Opulent Spain was cast as a place of darkness, ignorance, and evil. Although modern scholars have long ago discarded the Black Legend, it still remains very much alive today."

“A new, fictional Spanish Inquisition had been constructed, designed by the enemies of Spain and the Catholic Church.”

ISIS Inquisitors

The Traditionin Action website reviewed the BBC film “Timewatch – the Myth of the Spanish Inquisition,” which demonstrated that the anti-Catholic arguments have no basic in historical evidence. The 46-minute film, produced in 1994, outlines the history and facts of the Spanish Inquisition, basing its information on a systematic study of its private official records. View the movie Here

Reviewer Phillip Mericle writes: “Inquisition courts and prisons were the envy of the land, and criminals would actually blaspheme in secular courts in the hope that they would be brought before the Holy Inquisition instead. The sentences of the Spanish Inquisition were much more lenient than those of the courts of France, England, the Holy Roman Empire, and other European countries." 

“It is this Black Myth that continues to be spread by partisans of the French Revolution, Freemasons, and Hollywood film makers today. This is why to this day those initial falsities continue to live in the public’s mind.” 

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