#inquisition

A defence in the Inquisition is of little use to the prisoner, for a suspicion only is deemed sufficient cause of condemnation, and the greater his wealth the greater his danger. ↗

— John Foxe

#condemnation #danger #deemed #defence #greater

The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church. Wherever the Bible and sword are in partnership, man is a slave. All laws for the purpose of making man worship God, are born of the same spirit that kindled the fires of the auto da fe, and lovingly built the dungeons of the Inquisition. All laws defining and punishing blasphemy -- making it a crime to give your honest ideas about the Bible, or to laugh at the ignorance of the ancient Jews, or to enjoy yourself on the Sabbath, or to give your opinion of Jehovah, were passed by impudent bigots, and should be at once repealed by honest men. An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment. It strikes me that God might write a book that would not necessarily excite the laughter of his children. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that a real God could produce a work that would excite the admiration of mankind. ↗

— Robert G. Ingersoll

#inspiration #jehovah #law #politics #religion

The Philippines is a terrible name, coming from Spain. Phillip II was the father of the inquisition, who I believe died of syphilis. It is my great regret that we didn't change the name of our country. ↗

— Imelda Marcos

#change #coming #country #died #father

The secrets of slavery are concealed like those of the Inquisition. ↗

— Harriet Ann Jacobs

#inquisition #like #secrets #slavery #those

The old Inquisition had its rack and its thumbscrews and its instruments of torture with iron teeth. ↗

— Rose Schneiderman

#inquisition #instruments #iron #old #rack

How had it come about that these particular designs were chosen as our letters? Who decreed what sound would accompany each shape? And how was it decided the manner they would come together to form a word? 'Why is this so?' I demanded to know. ↗

— Theresa Breslin

#inquisition #learning #matteo #reading #sinistro-scribe

...more men and women were slaughtered in a couple of weeks of the terror of the atheistic French Revolution than in a century of the Inquisition. ↗

— Michael Coren

#inquisition #religious-violence #men

If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have let him alone. ↗

— Thomas Hardy

#alone #galileo #had #him #inquisition

A prisoner in the Inquisition is never allowed to see the face of his accuser, or of the witnesses against him, but every method is taken by threats and tortures, to oblige him to accuse himself, and by that means corroborate their evidence. ↗

— John Foxe

#accuser #against #allowed #every #evidence

In the Middle Ages and beyond, the target was the Court Jew who had the ear of the ruler; during the Inquisition it was the Spanish Jews who thrived after their conversion to Christianity. ↗

— Jack Schwartz

#ages #beyond #christianity #conversion #court