• The Jews knew nothing of the doctrine of last things such as heaven and hell, rewards and punishment, judgment after death.
• The doctrine of the Eucharist, the eating of the flesh and drinking the blood of God.
• The doctrine of God having a son born by a Virgin degraded God into a vulgar and polytheistic concept.
• The universalism of Jesus would destroy the Judaism of the exclusively chosen people.
• To the Jews Jesus was a disappointment, for they believed that the promised messiah of the scriptures would perform deeds of great political and military bravery.
• To the Jews Jesus was a blasphemer because he repudiated the Sabbath, the Temple sacrifices, and other rituals.

• circumcision of foreskin
• avoidance of certain meats
• blood sacrifice rituals
• The doctrine that they would be governed by a kingdom in Palestine.
• The doctrine that the Jews, being the chosen ones, would get preferential treatment.
• The Virgin Birth and Jesus' descent from Jewish royalty.
• The Last Supper as to close to the Jewish Passover. 

• The rejection of mother and family as well as love between children and parents.
• The rejection of marriage and private property.
• The mandate that those who could not practice celibacy without desire should commit self-castration.
• The ethical teachings that required all persons with property to sell it and give the money to the poor.
• The condemnation of enjoying any comfort or luxury not equally enjoyed by all, actually making it a cardinal sin.

• The power vacuum that came with the official fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 is gradually filled by the bishop of Rome. He first declares himself as the bishop raised among equals, but soon demands that he be the only one with the title pope. Finally, he claims that the bishop of Rome is above kings.
• The Papacy assumes the right to crown emperors. This gave the popes enormous leverage with future rulers who wanted the crown to have the Roman Catholic version of Christianity imposed on the whole of Europe.
• Using the top down approach, a succession of European emperors were persuaded to  impose the new faith on their subjects. Moreover, the emperors soon appreciated that once the people of a region were converted, they became obedient, if not docile, subjects. These folks could now be controlled by a few dozen priests rather than a regiment of soldiers that had to be paid and were themselves a potential thread to the emperor's power. 
• The Roman missionaries' carrot-and-stick strategy worked wonders with the unsophisticated Teutonic and Frankish people who still had a great admiration for the wisdom associated with the ancient city of Rome. Hence, they assumed that these missionaries probably spoke the truth when they offered the rewards of a glorious eternal life for converts and contrasted it with the eternal torment that unrepentant pagans could expect. Again, a few dozen monks could peacefully convert the many that would otherwise have required the bloody work of legions.
• However, it took the military campaigns of Charlemagne to complete the conversion of the empire by 782. There were alone 18 campaigns against the Saxons in which many thousand who refused the new religion were executed (also see Charlemagne below).

• that it "is necessary for salvation that every living creature be under submission to the Roman pontiff."
• that both spiritual and temporal (religious and secular) power were under the pope's jurisdiction.
• that kings were subordinate to the power of the Roman Catholic Church.

• The Christian religion is a human invention like the faith of the Jews and the Arabs;
• The dead will rise just as little as my horse which died yesterday;
• Mary, when she bore Christ, was just as little a virgin as my own mother when she gave birth to me;
• Sex and the satisfaction of natural drives is as little a sin as hand washing;
• Paradise and hell only exist on earth; the healthy, rich and happy people live in the earthly paradise, the poor and the sick are in the earthly hell;
• The world will exist forever, only we do not;
• Any religion and especially Christianity does not only contain some truth, but also many errors. The long list of Christian untruth includes trinity, the virgin birth, the godly nature of Jesus, the eucharistic transformation of bread and wine into the body of Christ and the resurrection of the dead.

ca. 500 to 751--The profitable alliance of altar and throne continues.

     The abbots who run these religious enterprises were thus rich and powerful magnates who served the king well by maintaining order, controlling the folks, and keeping them in awe of: God, His representative on earth, the pope, and His divinely ordained king. Moreover, from the beginning, the Merovingian kings had employed the higher clergy cooperatively with counts (earls) as royal agents.

• The emperor guarantees the security of Rome as property of the Roman Catholic Church [When Pope Stephen II (reign 752-757) showed this document to the illiterate Pippin III, King of the Franks, the king was impressed and granted the wished for security].
• Supremacy over all other apostolic churches such as that of Constantinople, Jerusalem, etc., and all the world's churches;
• Administrative rights over estates awarded to churches throughout the empire;
• Control of all the regions of the Western Empire, thus, implying the right to appoint all rulers in the West.

• His motivation to establish a Christian theocracy headed by himself, came in part from him being a true believer in Christianity. He was a devoted and frequent worshipper in the church, "going morning and evening, even after nightfall, besides attending mass." Throughout his life, he remained a devout Catholic who maintained a close relationship with the papacy. And as we shall see, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was later right when he observed that "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
• His first three decades in power were dominated by military campaigns. Historians count fifty-three operations or crusades conducted by himself or his officers against the Saxons, Lombards, Aquitanians, Thuringians, Bavarians, Avars or Huns, Danes, Slaves, Saracens, and Greeks. The ancient freedom and independence of the conquered had come to an end.
• The Saxons, more than any other tribe, fiercely resisted the empires armies and the papacy's priests who worked together just as in earlier times. It was a thirty-two year struggle (772-804) to subdue the Saxons. It was marked by blundering, broken peace agreements, hostage taking, mass killings, deportation of ca. 10,000 rebellious Saxons families, and draconian measures to compel the acceptance of Christianity.
• It was submission to Christianity or death. For instance, he had beheaded 4,500 prisoners in one day in Lower Saxony at Verden on the river Aller (782). They were decapitated for practicing their indigenous paganism after having officially, though under duress, converted to Christianity and undergone baptism. The river was reported to have been flowing red with their blood. Charlemagne's motives were to set an example of punishment for rebellion and demonstrate who has the power.
• Charlemagne calls a series of synods to order and direct religious life. As a guarantor and major benefactor of the papacy, the papal states, and the rest of the Church, he was in a position to extend his authority over matters that were traditionally governed by the Church. The synods were made up of clerics and laymen who under Charlemagne's guidance formed decrees to correct deficiencies and improve Christianity. These orders were given the force of law which all royal office holders, but especially bishops, were expected to enforce. This reform movement was designed to:
• improve the intellectual and moral quality of the clergy who were often "serf priests" appointed by the lords on whose the church stood. Not any better educated than their congregation, they would say Mass on Sundays and serve the land lord during the week.
• protect and increase the resources of the Roman Church,
• strengthen the Church's hierarchical structure, while clarifying the powers and responsibilities of its members,
• intensifying pastoral care for the laity leading to an improvement of morals thru a better understanding the basic tenets of the faith,
• teach the laity the virtues of humility, reverence, and submissiveness to the papacy and the empire, the two arms of God that governed the church and the world.
• root out paganism,
• place more authority with Charlemagne concerning: control over Church property, how to spread the faith, the definition of orthodox doctrine. 

• free the Roman Catholic church from intrusions by secular powers, e.g., the rulers or the state in any form,
• bring back dormant privileges of the clergy,
• free the ordinary bishops from encroachments by powerful metropolitan and archbishops,
• revitalize the right of appeal to the pope who would then have more local power,
• have forbidden, with the threat of eternal damnation, so much as to accuse a bishop of a crime or prosecute him,
• choose their own judges if a trial is unavoidable, and
• have a criminal procedure specified that was practically impossible to carry out.

• The Church was founded by God alone and entrusted with the task of embracing all mankind in a single society in which divine will is the only law.
• The Church, in her capacity as a divine institution, is supreme over all human structures, especially the this worldly, secular state.
• The pope was not only the absolute head of the Church, but also the king of kings. Hence, a king's authority to rule was bestowed upon him by the pope and could also be removed by the pope. This gave him the power to dispose of emperors.
• The pope, in his role as head of the Church, is the vice-regent of God on earth, so that disobedience to him implies disobedience to God: or, in other words, a defection from Christianity. it follows that the papal power was the sole universal power at least here on earth.
• As God's sole representative on earth, the pope held the keys of heaven and hell. Hence, it was within the pope's authority to declare that through the doctrine of transubstantiation only the priest could perform the ritual of the Mass and could also determine whether a person would go to heaven or hell.
• Celibacy should be compulsory among the clergy. This would yield four great benefits for the Church:

1309 to 1377--The popes took up residence in Avignon, France primarily because of the current political turmoil at that time in Rome. In 1348, Avignon became direct papal property. The Avignon papacy was overwhelmingly French in complexion, that is, all seven of the popes during the period were French, as were 111 of the 134 cardinals created.

1409--A third pope emerged when the Council of Pisa attempted with a formal trial to solve the 30-year Schism. The two rival popes then in office, Roman Pope Gregory XII and Avignon Pope Benedict XIII, were removed from office as "notorious schismatics, notorious heretics, errant from the faith and guilty of perjury and violated oath. A new pope was elected, John XXIII, but both the Roman and the Avignon pope refused to recognize the right of the Council to dethrone them. Thus, instead of healing the split, there were now three popes. The three-pope situation lasted for five years.

1455--Pope Nicholas (reign 1447-55):

                 "Strengthens the faith of the weak by that which it sees."

"The ancient Roman nobility's survival had largely depended all along on the wealth and influence derived from close participation in the spiritual and temporal government of the papacy. It was their close family ties with the reigning popes to which they owed their considerable fortunes."

After 1510, it was not necessary for the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation to intervene in the papal election process. 

1645--By the end of the Catholic Counter Reformation, extreme nepotism such as the appointment of popes by families was no longer possible. The popes had to be content with granting their friends and relatives:

• government posts,

• huge benefices, that is, church offices endowed with fixed capital assets that provide a living,

• important fiefs, land with un-free peasants attached, on papal lands without any prejudice to sovereign authority. Besides land, dignities and offices and money rents were also given in fief.

• princely and ducal titles for recently granted and ancient fiefs.

Their breath stinks for the gold and silver of the heathen; since no people  under the sun always have been, still are, and always will remain more avaricious than they, as can be noticed in their cursed usury. Therefore know, my dear Christians, that next to the Devil, you have no more  bitter, more poisonous, more vehement and enemy than a real Jew who earnestly desires to be a Jew...Do not  their Talmud and rabbis write that it is no sin to kill if a Jew kills a heathen, but it is a  sin if he kills a brother in Israel? It is no sin if he does not keep his oath to a heathen. Therefore, to steal and rob - as they do with their money lending - from a heathen, is a divine service...

"Now what are we going to  do with these rejected, condemned Jewish people?"

...to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn... I advise that their houses be razed and destroyed...  I advise that all their prayer books... in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be  taken from them... that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of  life and limb... that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews... that all their treasure  of silver and gold be taken from them... But if the authorities are reluctant to use force and restrain the  Jews' devilish wantonness, the latter should, as we said, be expelled from their country and be told to return  to ... Jerusalem where they may lie, curse, blaspheme, defame, murder, steal, rob, practice usury, mock,  and indulge in all those infamous abominations which they practice among us, and leave ... our Lord the  Messiah, our faith, and our church undefiled and uncontaminated with their devilish tyranny and malice (my emphases).

1558--Pope Pius V orders the expulsion of the Jews from the Papal States, though for commercial reasons they were allowed to remain under degrading conditions in Rome and Ancona, a seaport on the Adriatic Sea. (more about Pius below).

• 1225--The Polish duke Conrad of Mazovia would grant lands to the Teutonic Knights if they would assist him against the pagan Prussians.
• 1226--The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (reign 1220-1250) issued a charter, the Golden Bull of Rimini, that confirmed to Salza and his order the lands granted by the Polish duke and any other lands the Teutonic Knights might conquer from the Prussians.
• 1234--Pope Gregory IX (reign 1227-1241) grants a second foundational charter to the order. Under this document, the papacy accepted the order's present, the war had started in 1233, and future conquests as property of the Holy See but would grant them back to the order in continuous ownership.

• One-third of the conquered territories were given to the Church
• The Teutonic Order became very rich after the pope relieved them from their vow of poverty in 1263.
• German and Polish nobles where granted large estates

• The Catholic church thru its higher clergy owned almost one-half of all the land in Bohemia. The massive wealth that came with estates was further enhanced by the sale of church offices. The lower clergy, the poor village priests, resented these conditions.
• The peasants, too, were indignant about these conditions. But even worse, they suffered under heavy land taxes imposed by the church.
• The sale of indulgences was authorized by Antipope John XXIII (1410-1415) to finance his campaign against Pope Gregory XII (reign 1406-1415). This was supported by the Bohemian King Wenceslas who customarily got as share of the proceeds.

1. The word of God shall be preached and made known in the kingdom of Bohemia freely and in an orderly manner by the priests of the Lord.

2. The sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist shall be freely administered in the two kinds, that is bread and wine, to all the faithful in Christ who are not precluded by mortal sin - according to the word and disposition of Our Saviour.

3. The secular power over riches and worldly goods which the clergy possesses in contradiction to Christ’s precept, to the prejudice of its office and to the detriment of the secular arm, shall be taken and withdrawn from it, and the clergy itself shall be brought back to the evangelical rule and an apostolic life such as that which Christ and his apostles led.

4. All mortal sins, and in particular all public and other disorders, which are contrary to God’s law shall in every rank of life be duly and judiciously prohibited and destroyed by those whose office it is.

     Subsequently, the Huguenots abandoned the doctrine of obedience to the royal authority. They adopted the view that rebellion and tyrannicide, the killing of tyrants, were justifiable under certain circumstances.

ca. 200--Tertullian (ca. 157-220) was an early, important Christian theologian who wrote:

The natural law authorized man to follow only the voice of individual conscience in the practice of religion, since the acceptance of religion was a matter of free will, not of compulsion.

(Humani iuris et naturalis potestatis, unicuique quod putaverit colere, nec alii obest aut prodest alterius religio. Sed nec religionis est religionem colere, quae sponte suscipi debeat). 

ca. 300--Lactantius (240-320) was an early Christian apologist and one of the most reprinted Church Fathers. He points out:

Religion being a matter of the will, it cannot be forced on anyone; in this matter it is better to employ words than blows [verbis melius quam verberibus res agenda est]. Of what use is cruelty? What has the rack to do with piety? Surely there is no connection between truth and violence, between justice and cruelty . . . . It is true that nothing is so important as religion, and one must defend it at any cost [summâ vi] . . . It is true that it must be protected, but by dying for it, not by killing others; by long-suffering, not by violence; by faith, not by crime. If you attempt to defend religion with bloodshed and torture, what you do is not defense, but desecration and insult. For nothing is so intrinsically a matter of free will as religion. (Divine Institutes V:20)

And to this day, the Roman Catholic Church insists that she always adhered to the principle that religion could not be forced on others when dealing with the unbaptized. Also, the church claims that "when comparing the Mosaic Law and the Christian religion, they taught that the latter was content with a spiritual punishment of heretics (i.e. with excommunication), while Judaism necessarily proceeded against its dissidents with torture and death."

ca. 340--Religious tolerance ends when Christianity becomes the state's religion.

After Constantine died in 337, his successors "soon began to see in themselves Divinely appointed 'bishops of the exterior', i.e. masters of the temporal and material conditions of the Church. At the same time they retained the traditional authority of 'Pontifex Maximus' . . . . " (Catholic Encyclopedia), that is, they claimed the authority of head priest of the Roman state religion that was now the Roman Church's version of Christianity.

     And indeed, until the early modern period, it is the emperors that convene and preside over church councils and enforce its decrees. Moreover, it is the emperors who furnish the military power to convert pagans and go after those the state church perceives as a threat, e.g., Jews, Moslems, and diverging Christian religions, that is, heretics. Charlemagne (above) is a good example.

ca. 380--St. Optatus defends the state's right to kill heretics.

He writes against Donatism, a Christian sect that flourished in the 4th cent. and was noted for its rigorous views on morality and sanctity, esp. that of the clergy. In support of civil authority he contends:

. . . as though it were not permitted to come forward as avengers of God, and to pronounce sentence of death! . . . But, say you, the State cannot punish in the name of God. Yet was it not in the name of God that Moses and Phineas consigned to death the worshippers of the Golden Calf and those who despised the true religion?

     "This was the first time that a Catholic bishop championed a decisive cooperation of the State in religious questions, and its right to inflict death on heretics. For the first time, also, the Old Testament was appealed to, though such appeals had been previously rejected by Christian teachers" (Catholic Encyclopedia).

ca. 1250-- Thomas Aquinas demands the death penalty for heretics.

He insists that:

The acceptance of the faith is voluntary; however, once accepted, it becomes necessary to keep it.

(Accipere fidem est voluntaris, sed tenere fidem iam acceptam est necessitatis.)

• The inquisitors were mainly Dominican friars, that is wandering monks who lived initially mostly on alms. They roamed the countryside, villages, and towns independently of local bishops and priests to seek out heretics and other offenders. Hence, even the local clergy was not immune from their investigations. The friars were accountable only to the pope.  
• "Guilty until proven innocent" was the laws of the Inquisition and as such replaced the common law tradition which was "innocent until proven guilty."
• The persons charged were denied the right of counsel. Also, the accused could not confront informers and witnesses because their names were kept secret.
• The inquisitor acted as prosecutor, judge, and jury. Hence, he would also determine the sentence.
• It was almost impossible to be proven innocent because under torture, most of the accused would confess to anything the inquisitors wanted to hear. Those who would not even under the most excruciating pain admit wrongdoing, often died from the continuing torment. Since tortures had to stop before they could be fatal, it was judged that it was caused by the devil and proved that the accused had been guilty.
• The inquisitor had the right to absolve his helpers for violent acts. This right was granted by the pope in 1245. Moreover, the inquisitor's helpers, spies, messengers, torturers, were permitted to carry arms.
• Life expectancy was short for the imprisoned. One of the reasons was that neither the Inquisitor nor the community wanted to pay for their food.
• Inquisitors prospered from:
• Annual fines and bribes paid by the rich to escape prosecution.
• The money and property of the convicted heretic which was confiscated by the Inquisition.
• The accusation and conviction of the long dead, sometimes as long as 70 years, who were exhumed and burned. Their property was then taken from those who had it inherited.
• "God punishes children for the sins of their parents" (its in the "Old" Testament) stated Pope Innocent III. Hence, the Roman law which provided that a portion of the  heretic's property be given to his or her dependents could be ignored. Hence, children and widows were left destitute.
• The actual burning or execution was carried out by secular authorities. They, however, were coerced in doing so because otherwise they would face excommunication and be treated just like heretics. This allows the Church to claim that they never killed anyone. As noted above, extreme torture that resulted in death was blamed on the devil. 

385--Priscillian (ca. 340-385) was the first heretic put to death.

He was an early Christian bishop who founded Priscillianism, an unorthodox rigorous ascetic. sect that persisted into the 6th century. He was ordered to defend himself in Trier (now in Germany) where he was found guilty of sorcery and immorality and thus executed.

1231--The Inquisition becomes a permanent and separate tribunal under Pope Gregory IX (reign 1227-1241). Also, the papal order demands that heretics suffer death by fire.

1252--The use of torture is authorized by Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254) to obtain confessions and the names of other heretics. Moreover, he declared "that anyone who attempted to construe a personal view of god which conflicted with church dogma must be burned without pity."

1478--The Spanish Inquisition authorized by Pope Sixtus IV, and who appointed the Dominican Tomás de Torquemada as Inquisitor General. He introduced the auto-da-fé, the public ceremony that was an elaborate celebration at which sentences were announced and mass execution by burning at the stake were carried out. This grand display of cruelty accomplished one primary objective, namely, to plant fear and terror in the minds of the masses.  

1490--People "... were deprived of the liberty to hear and talk freely," complains Juan de Mariana, "since in all cities, towns, and villages, there were persons [spies] placed to give information of what went on. this was considered by some the most wretched slavery and equal to death."

1570--The Inquisition reached the Americas soon after Columbus discovered it for the Europeans in 1492. By 1570 there were independent tribunals in Peru and Mexico. Native Americans who would not convert were treated like heretics and burned.

1600--Giordano Bruno (ca. 1548-1600) Dominican monk, near death after almost eight years of incarceration, was burned at the stake, on the Campo dei Fiori (Rome) on 2/17/1600, for his scientific and religious views that were considered heretical.

1834--After 356 years of terror the Spanish Inquisition is finally abolished.

1908--The Inquisition is renamed the Holy Office by Pope Pius X.

1917--Torture is abolished by the Roman Church in the new Code of Canon Law.

1965--Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is presently the name of the former  Inquisition. Like the Inquisition, it is charged with maintaining the purity of the faith, however, by modern means such as removing their professors of theology from teaching positions if the findings of their research does not coincide with church doctrine. 

1966--Possession and reading of the Bible is no longer banned. The Bible was listed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Roman Catholic Church. These were publications considered perilous to the faith, morals, and theology. Moreover, they could be dangerous to the power of the Church and its hierarchy. Catholics who violated the ban could be punished with excommunication. The Index of Forbidden Books was finally abolished in 1966 by Pope Paul VI (reign 1963-1978).

c. The Inquisition's Torture Techniques

Many styles of torture had been invented during the Inquisition so as to inflict the most horrific pain on the victims without killing them. The worst of these techniques were turned upon those accused of witchcraft. With Pope Innocent VIII issuance of a papal bull against witches in 1484, the torture of people accused of being a witch reached fanatical proportions. The worst tortures of the inquisition occurred in Germany and France. Also, there was no limit to the types and cruelty of the tortures. The Inquisition meant anything was allowed:

• Acid was poured on victims and hands were immersed into pots of boiling oil and water.
• 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.
• Secondary torture was the name for torturing the victims family to pain him or her.
• Sleep deprivation had a number of negative physical and psychological effects. A subject might be kept awake for several days and when finally allowed to fall asleep, suddenly awakened and questioned. As one so tortured in our time reports: "In the head of the interrogated prisoner, a haze begins to form. His spirit is wearied to death, his legs are unsteady, and he has one sole desire: to sleep...Anyone who has experienced this desire knows that not even hunger and thirst are comparable with it" (Menachem Begin).

• Red hot irons were inserted up vaginas and rectums.
• Sharp iron forks were used to mangle breasts.
• Red hot pincers were used to tear off flesh.
• Saws--The victim was tied upside down with the legs spread apart. With the blood primarily diverted to the brain, this ensured that the victim maintained consciousness for as long as possible. Moreover, it slowed the loss of blood and caused maximum humiliation. The torture could last several hours. While some victims were cut completely in half as a symbolic gesture, most were only cut up to their abdomen to prolong the time it took for them to die.
• Sharp poles were used to slowly impale victims. they were forced to sit on a sharp, thick pole. The pole was then raised upright and the victim was left to slide further down the pole by his or her own weight. Often, the pole would emerge through the sternum so that its tip could be placed under the chin to prevent further sliding. It could take the victim up to three days to die.
• Turcas were used to tear out fingernails. After the nails were ripped out needles were shoved into the exposed sensitive flesh.
• Thumbscrews were used to crush the fingers and toes. There were many variations of this device. Some were designed to slowly crush fingers, while others were built to do the same to toes, knees and elbows. they were all simple but extremely painful vises.
• Tongue tearers attached firmly to tongues with the leverage of a screw so that they could be torn out.
• Irons were used to gouge out eyes.
• Breast rippers allowed a firm all-around grip so that breast could be torn out.
• The pear, an expanding metal device, was inserted into the mouth, rectum or vagina. A screw mechanism then makes its pointed “leaves” expand while inside any of those orifices, resulting in severe internal mutilation.
• Iron maidens tightly enclosed and tortured their victims. The interior of this device was lined with strategically-placed sharp objects that were intended to torture. These spikes impaled the victim in the eyes, the chest and the back, but usually missed vital organs, so as to leave the victim bleeding profusely and in great pain, but still alive for a period of time.
• The coffin was a metal cage roughly made in the shape of the human body. The condemned to death victim was placed inside and it was frequently hung from a tree or a gallows. Birds or animals could then eat the victims flesh.
• The rack was a contraption designed to dislocate every single joint in its victim’s body. Tied across the device’s board by the ankles and wrists, the victim’s body is then pulled in opposite directions by turning rollers at either end of the board.
• The breaking wheel was an execution device, but the hours before actual death were excruciating. The victim is tied to the side of the wheel, then gets every bone in his body shattered one by one by an executioner using a hammer or an iron bar. Victims of this form of torture often took hours, or even days to die. Some were “fortunate” enough to be granted “mercy”, in the form of fatal blows to the chest or stomach.

Many hundred thousand goodnights, dearly beloved daughter Veronica. Innocent I have come to prison, innocent have I been tortured, innocent must I die. For whosoever comes into the witch prison must be a witch or be tortured until he invents something out of his head ... I will tell you how it has gone to me ... the executioner ... put the thumbscrews on me, that blood ran out at the nails and everywhere. So that for four weeks I could not use my hands as you can see from my writing ... Thereafter the stripped me, bound my hands behind me, and drew me up in torture. Then I thought heaven and earth were at an end; eight times did they draw me up and let me fall again, so that I suffered a terrible agony. The executioner said, "Sir, I beg you for God's sake confess something, whether it be true or not, for you cannot endure the torture which you will be put to, and even if you bear it all, yet you will not escape" ... [He then explained the confession he gave] Now my dear child you have all my confession, for which I must die. And they are sheer lies and made up things, so help me God. For all this I was forced to say through fear of torture which was threatened beyond what I had endured. For they never leave off with the torture till one confesses something, be he ever so good, he must be a witch. Nobody escapes ... (Margaret Knight in Honest to man: Christian ethics re-examined, p.92-93)

• Sola scriptura--the Scriptures alone, not traditions, are the foundation of the faith (Galatians 2:6-9).
• Solus Christus--Christ alone, not the Church, has authority over believers (Ephesians 5:23-24).
• Sola gratia--thru the mercy of God alone, not thru one's own doing, is the believer saved (Romans 1:17).
• Sola fide--thru faith alone, not thru good works, achieve humans righteousness (Galatians 2:16).
• Sola disciplina--thru education alone, not appointment or mere ordination, is one best qualified for preaching and pastoral care. Hence, this individual may be a member of the congregation--the concept of the priesthood of the laity or all believers. Hence, priests as intermediaries between believers and God are not necessary. This concept is based on the definition of a Christian community, that is, at least two persons who meet in the name of Christ (Mathew 18,19) and the development of a Priesthood of the laity (I Corinthian 12).

• He firmly believed in the existence of evil, demons, witches and other superstitions.
• He hated reason and called it "the devil's bride," a "beautiful whore" and "God's worst enemy."
• He hated understanding and the evidence of the senses: "Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees it must put out of sight, and wish to know nothing but the word of God."
• He, of course, as can be seen from above, believed in the literal interpretation of the Bible.

• He was the first to translated the Bible into German. Thus made the Scriptures available to Protestants. Catholics were forbidden to read the Bible in any language until the mid 1960s. 
• He used understandable vernacular German in his translation. This made a major contribution to the development of what is now standard German (High German) as the language is now spoken and written.
• His new theology, together with the translation of the Bible, broke the interpretation monopoly of the Catholic Church. The laity could now study and decide on the meaning of the Scriptures.
• His reformation served as a wake-up call for the Catholic Church to reform before she would sink in her spiritual and temporal cesspool of iniquity.  
• His action was the straw that broke the camel's back of mind control by the Church. Hence, it made possible free thought not seen since the Greek and Roman cultures were oppressed and then perished. This allowed the 18th century Age of Reason and the Enlightenment to take place. This development would eventually lead to the modern separation of state and church.

• He sided with the rich and powerful princes against the poor and powerless peasants whose pitiful existence was caused and perpetuated by their oppression and exploitation. This was a renewal of the alliance between throne and alter for mutual benefits that we already observed when Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire.
• He stated that the rulers, who may be "heathens," are "the ministers of God," and are not bound by the Gospel. However, they may, actually have the "duty,"  "with a clear conscience" and without legal "judgment," "smite and punish" the peasants if in the ruler's opinion they disregard the Gospel (see "The Peasant's Revolt, Luther's Betray and Slave Morality" below).
• His violent anti-Semitic tirades have been judged by scholars as "Germanizing the Christian critique of Judaism and establishing anti-Semitism as a key element of German culture and national identity."
       Others argue that "he caused a "hysterical and demonizing mentality" about Jews to enter German thought and discourse, a mentality that might otherwise have been absent (see above "1543 - Martin Luther publishes 'On the Jews and their lies'").

• Against the indignation of the Protestant reformers it emphatically declared as spiritually vital: indulgences, pilgrimages, the veneration of saints, relics, and the Virgin Mary, salvation through faith and works (not faith alone as the reformers claimed), their version of the Eucharist together with the other six sacraments (the Reformers had a different version of the Eucharist and wanted to reduce the sacraments to only two).
• They maintained the prohibition for the laity to read the Bible. In addition they started "The Index of Prohibited Books" that was upheld until the mid 1960s when it was voided and the laity was also allowed to read the Bible.
• They commissioned a handbook of questions and answers for teaching their interpretation of the Bible and other tenets as they had developed over time. This was probably done in response to Luther's 1929 Augsburg Catechism. This "Roman Catechism" was used until 1992 when it was replaced with the "Catechism of the Catholic Church."
• Many parish priests had been badly educated, that is, they did not know Latin, hence, they could not even read the Bible. Therefore, it was decided to better educate them, teach them Latin, theology, and the art of apologetics, that is, how to defend and demonstrate the truth of the Church's teachings. The seminary-trained priests would gradually replace the crudely educated during the seventeenth century.
• The appointments of Bishops for political reasons was no longer accepted, however, nepotism continued into the seventeenth century but came to an end when the papal states were returned to the people in 1870. The Church's large estates all over Europe were administrated by bishops who thus had little time for spiritual matters. These shepherds were often absent from their dioceses thus leaving the priests unsupervised. This absenteeism came to an end.
• The emergence of a new or forgotten mysticism with emphasis on God as a fearsome but unknowable, beyond the range of ordinary human comprehension or experience, absolute ruler. However, individual religious experiences could yield glimpses of Him together with strong emotional feelings of a divine presence. For example, the nun Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) claimed to have had a variety of mystical visions that resulted in an ecstatic union of her soul with God.
• Old monastic orders, such as the Benedictines and Dominicans, were reformed and revived. New religious orders were formed, for example, the Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, and most importantly, the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits who were founded by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556).
• The Jesuits were the main instrument of the Counter-Reformation. They pursued two important goals:

• The evangelization of the Americas would bring millions of new believers into the fold.
• The pursuit of heretics and witches was intensified (see above The Inquisition and The Witchcraft Trials).

• All of the 225 German Princes could choose the religion (Lutheranism or Catholicism) of their realms according to their conscience.

• Lutherans living in an ecclesiastical, under the control of a bishop, state could continue to practice their faith.

• Lutherans could keep the territory that they had captured from the Catholic Church since the Peace of Passau in 1552.

• The ecclesiastical leaders, bishops, of the Catholic Church that had converted to Lutheranism were required to give up their territories

• The population occupying a state that had officially chosen either Lutheranism or Catholicism could not practice a religion differing from that of the state.

Hence, the princes decided on the religion of their choice which would become the only "choice" for the population under their control. This is the ancient prerogative of powerful despots: "He who rules, determines the religion of the fools."

• The armies of both sides plundered as they marched, leaving cities, towns, villages, and farms devastated thus causing famines while spreading diseases such as pestilences.
• The Swedish army alone destroyed 17,000 villages, 1,400 towns, and about 2,000 castles.
• The overall population of Germany was reduces by a third, and about half of all males had perished. In some areas the population was reduced by two thirds.
• During this time, nobody was safe. Uncertainty, fear, turmoil, brutality in the form of torture, murder, rape, and other horrors characterized everyday life--it was hell on earth.
• For example, Protestant Magdeburg was stormed in 1631 by Imperial troops under Count von Tilly who was the principal commander of the Catholic League. As his soldiers went out of control, they pillaged, raped and massacred the population. Moreover, they set fire to the city in a dozen or so different locations. Only 5,000 of the 30,000 inhabitants survived. Thereafter, most of the survivors fled with only about 400 residents remaining.

Finally, there was religious peace within the Holy Roman Empire and it would survive until its dissolution in 1806. The major denominations now lived in relative peace on the continent.

The main tenets of the Peace of Westphalia were:

• All parties would now recognize the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 (see above)
• Christians living in principalities where their denomination was not the established church were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in public during allotted hours and in private at their will.
• The idea of the Holy Roman Empire having secular dominion over the entire Christian world was nullified. The nation-state would be the highest level of government, subservient to no others.

Significance for the concepts of diplomacy among nation-states:

• The principle of the sovereignty of states and the fundamental right of political self determination

• The principle of (legal) equality between states

• The principle of non-intervention of one state in the internal affairs of another state

These principles of tolerance allowed Catholic and Protestant factions to cooperate and go to war for reasons of state and not for reasons of religion.

And to this day, the Catholic and Protestant churches have dominated Germany’s spiritual and educational life including that of philosophy. As a consequence of this dominance, at most German universities, the chair of philosophy belongs to one or other of the two churches. Thus, most philosophy departments at German universities are the de facto handmaidens of religion. This in part explains why religious philosophers such as Kant and Heidegger are held in high esteem on account of their religious but not philosophical contributions. Kant's widely celebrated Critique of Pure Reason and Heidegger's Being and Time are massive works of mystification and camouflage promoting religion.

1. It is our humble petition and desire that in the future each community should choose and appoint a pastor, and that we should have the right to depose him should he conduct himself improperly . . .
2. We are ready and willing to pay the fair tithe or grain . . . The small tithes [of cattle], whether [to] ecclesiastical or lay lords, we will not pay at all, for the Lord God created cattle for the free use of man . . .
3. We . . . take it for granted that you will release us from serfdom as true Christians, unless it should be shown us from the Gospel that we are serfs.
4. It has been the custom heretofore that no poor man should be allowed to catch venison [the flesh of a deer or similar animal] or wildfowl or fish in flowing water, which seems o us quite unseemly and unbrotherly as well as selfish and not agreeable to the word of God . . .
5. We are aggrieved in the matter of wood cutting, for the noblemen have appropriated all the woods to themselves . . .
6. In regard to the excessive services* demanded of us which are increased from day to day, we ask that this matter be properly looked into so that we shall not continue to be oppressed in this way . . .
7. We will not hereafter allow ourselves to be further oppressed by our lords, but will let them demand only what is just and proper according to the word of the agreement between the lord and the peasant. The lord should no longer try to force more services or other dues from the peasant without payment . . .
8. We are greatly burdened because our holdings cannot support the rent exacted from them . . . We ask that the lords may appoint persons of honor to inspect these holdings and fix a rent in accordance with justice . . .
9. We are burdened with a great evil in the constant making of new laws . . . In our opinion we should be judged according to the old written law . . .
10. We are aggrieved by the appropriation . . . of meadows and fields which at one time belonged to a community as a whole. These we will take again into our own hands . . .
11. We will entirely abolish the death tax [by which the lord received the best horse, cow, or garment of a family upon the death of a serf] and will no longer endure it, nor allow widows and orphans to be thus shamefully robbed against God's will, and in violation of justice and right . . .
12. It is our conclusion and final resolution, that if any one or more of the articles here set forth should not be in agreement with the Word of God, as we think they are, such article we will willingly retract.

The peasants have taken on themselves the burden of three terrible sins against God and man, by which they have abundantly merited death in body and soul.

In the first place, they have sworn to be true and faithful, submissive and obedient, to their rulers, as Christ commands, when he says, ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,’ and in Romans XIII, ‘Let everyone be subject unto the higher powers.’ Because they are breaking this obedience, and are setting themselves against the higher powers, willfully and with violence, they have forfeited body and soul, as faithless, perjured, lying, disobedient knaves and scoundrels are wont to do. St. Paul passed this judgment on them in Romans XIII when he said, that they who resist the power will bring a judgment upon themselves. This saying will smite the peasants sooner or later, for it is God's will that faith be kept and duty done.

In the second place, they are starting a rebellion, and violently robbing and plundering monasteries and castles which are not theirs, by which they have a second time deserved death in body and soul, if only as highwaymen and murderers. Besides, any man against whom it can be proved that he is a maker of sedition is outside the law of God and Empire, so that the first who can slay him is doing right and well [Jesus was crucified for sedition, so according to Luther the Romans did the right thing]. For if a man is an open rebel every man is his judge and executioner, just as when a fire starts, the first to put it out is the best man. For rebellion is not simple murder, but is like a great fire, which attacks and lays waste a whole land. Thus rebellion brings with it a land full of murder and bloodshed, makes widows and orphans, and turns everything upside down, like the greatest disaster. Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful or devilish than a rebel. It is just as when one must kill a mad dog; if you do not strike him, he will strike you, and a whole land with you.

• Slavery emphasizes the idea of complete ownership and control by a master. A slave was considered by law as property or chattel (a movable item of personal property such as a car, furniture, etc.), and was deprived of the rights ordinarily held by free persons. Legally and often socially he had no kin; hence, no relatives could stand up for his rights or get justice for him. In the society that held slaves, they were considered "nobodies," "outsiders," "barely adequate individuals," or "socially dead persons." The limits on how much a slave could be abused was close to that on how animals could be treated. 
•  Bondage indicates a state of subjugation or captivity often involving burdensome and degrading labor.
• Servitude is compulsory service, often such as is required by a legal penalty, for instance, convicts serving their penalty as indentured servants.
• Serfdom was an institution close to slavery and bondage but less severe.
• Peonage was like serfdom. It was a system of servitude common in Latin America, particularly in the area that is now Mexico. In the U.S. before the civil War, forms of peonage existed in the territories of New Mexico and Arizona, as well as in the South were poor blacks and whites were subjected to it.
• Sharecropping was still another form of popular peonage in the southeastern U.S. after slavery was abolished. By this system, the sharecropper and his family worked the land in return for a share in the profits from the harvested crops.

• While slaves could be bought and sold without reference to a parcel of land, the serfs were bound to a hereditary piece of land and to the will of whoever owned the land.
• The serf could not leave the landlord's property to which he was bound without the lord's permission.
• The serf could not marry, change his kind of work, or sell a personal belonging without the lord's consent. 

• In 1493, Pope Alexander VI grants* the New World to Spain and Portugal. On request of the rulers of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella issued a bull granting Spain the exclusive right to explore the seas and claim all New World lands lying west of a north-south line 100 leagues (about 320 miles) west of the Cape Verde Islands. Portugal was granted similar rights of exploration east of the demarcation line. This papal disposition was jointly amended by Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. *The popes claimed this authority because the world belonged to God since He created it. And the popes considered themselves the sole representatives of God on earth since He had founded the Catholic Church. Moreover, the popes claimed to be king of kings with the right to appoint and dispose worldly rulers.
• Church authorities approved military conquest on the grounds of converting non-Christians to the Roman Catholic version of the Christian faith and to eradicate indigenous religious practices.
• In subsequent years, by papal agreement, Catholic monarchs were given extensive rights over church affairs in the new territories because the papacy recognized that it did not have the resources to support such an extensive missionary effort as was necessary. The monarchs, then, empowered the conquistadors when they granted them trusteeship over the indigenous people they conquered, in an expansion of familiar feudal institutions that approached the conditions of slavery.
• The monarchs, through their administrations, "could appoint all bishops and clergy, build churches, collect fees, and supervise the affairs of the various religious orders who sought to Christianize the heathens."
•  Catholic missionaries--especially the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits--soon spread throughout the new territories where they converted and baptized hundreds of thousands of Indians in the early year of the conquest. To facilitate conversions, and to make sure that the native Americans would become docile subjects to the empire, they would be removed from their homes and placed into larger villages. To this day, this was the world's most successful missionary effort, for ninety percent of the 540 million living today in Latin America are Roman Catholics.
• The conquests of Mexico and Peru are among the most dramatic and brutal events in modern world history. The murderous conquistadors were assisted by monks who established the Spanish Inquisition first in Peru in 1570 and the following year in Mexico.

• The native populations were nearly exterminated** on account of European diseases, excruciating, forced labor, starvation, or being killed for various reasons. For example, the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) had about 100,000 inhabitants when Columbus arrived in 1493; however, only 300 Indians survived by 1570. By the year 1600, Spanish Christians had looted and plundered across the new world bringing the "benefits" of Christianity to the indigenous people, ca. 60 million of whom died on account of the above.
• The Indians had no resistance to diseases such as smallpox, measles, and typhus that caused most painful dying. In the case of smallpox, death frequently occurs after a week or two of illness, brought on by the toxic effects of huge quantities of virus in the blood and the inflammatory response of the body's immune system. It is estimated that 30 to 40 percent of the natives died from these scorches.
• Forced labor, enslavement, was another major cause of death. The settlers from Spain and Portugal brutally used the Indians on their plantations and in their gold and silver mines. They literally worked them to death. As we have seen above, many of the African slaves that replaced the Indians would experience the same fate.
• And as bad, the Indians' belief system, culture, and civilization were virtually annihilated. Some of these civilizations had long histories and a record of enormous social, architectural, and technological achievements. Few people in history fared worse. Their bodies were enslaved by conquistadors and settlers, their minds were deprived of comforting traditions by monks who with the help of secular authorities bludgeoned them into acceptance of Roman Catholicism with this Church's version of Jesus Christ as their savior.
• To this day, probably on account of historical events related to the conquest, the Roman Catholic Church in the New World was always a conservative force. Initially, the Church worked to protect the political power and prestige of the conquerors and the Spanish and Portuguese colonial authorities. Later, the same protection was extended to often murderous, military dictatorships. 

• The Church became rich as the Spanish elite became rich through its exploitation of the resources and peoples of the New World. The Church became a great landowner through grants from the monarchs and through bequests from Catholics who died in the New World.
• Between 1503 and 1650 over thirty-five million pounds of silver and 407,000 pounds of gold entered the port of Seville alone. Much of the gold and silver extracted at the expense of millionth of lives ended up decorating Europe's palaces, churches, cathedrals, and basilicas.
• Moreover, sugar, dyes, cotton, vanilla, and hides from livestock in the pampas entered Spain via Seville.
• Also, new agricultural products such as potatoes, coffee, corn, and tobacco were exported to Spain.

Between 1880 and 1914, European nations, all solidly Christian, raced to colonize the entire continent of Africa (see map below). During this scramble for African territory, the English made it clear that they were not interested in the territory of South-West Africa, and so in 1884 it was declared a German protectorate. At that time it was Germany's only overseas territory deemed suitable for white settlement.

Christian,

Map showing European claimants to the

African continent in 1913. Almost all of the

continent was colonized by European nations

(Photo source: Wikimedia Commons).

On January 12, 1904, the Herero people under Samuel Maharero rose in rebellion against the German colonial rule in German South-West Africa or what is now modern-day Namibia. They killed about 120 Germans, including women and children, and destroyed their farms. In response, the German Government dispatched 14,000 soldiers to resolve the crisis. Their leader, Lothar von Trotha issued an ultimatum to the Hereros:

I, the great general of the German troops, send this letter to the Herero people... All Hereros must leave this land... Any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall no longer receive any women or children; I will drive them back to their people. I will shoot them. This is my decision for the Herero people.

     Although General Trotha's orders to kill every male Herero and drive the women and children into the desert were lifted in 1904 by the German Emperor, it was too late to prevent the massacre. By the end of 1904, survivors, mostly women and children, were herded into concentration camps.  and given as slave labour to German businesses, where many died of overwork and malnutrition. German enterprises were able to rent Herero people for manpower, and death of workers was permitted, and reported to the German authorities. Forced labor, disease, and malnutrition killed an estimated 50 to 80 percent of the entire Herero population by 1908, when the camps were closed (citation required). This extermination thus qualifies as genocide.

    In 1985, the United Nations' Whitaker Report recognized Germany's attempt to exterminate the Herero and Nama peoples of South-West Africa as one of the earlier attempts at genocide in the 20th century. The German government has also apologized for the atrocities in 2004.

• It was now legal to import opium.
• Foreigners could travel in the interior of China.
• Christian missionaries could proselytize their faith everywhere.
• Several new ports to Western trade and residence became available.
• All major water ways such as the Yangtze River were open to foreign navigation.

• Prohibited were: prostitution, foot binding, slavery, opium smoking, adultery, gambling, and the consumption of tobacco and wine.
• The Chinese language was simplified.
• The equality of men and women was proclaimed.
• All property was to be held in common.