Haters twist religion, ignore the law
Most human societies have believed not just in gods but also devils and demons. A way to explain much evil.
Such beliefs were commonplace and powerful in the preenlightenment West. While today witches are Halloween figures of fun, people once were terrified of them, and witch hunts were very real.
That might seem crazy now. But no crazier, really, than some beliefs commonly held today. Polls reveal 40 percent of Americans still believe in Satan. We had a Satanic panic as recently as the 1980s. Many people were imprisoned on absurd charges of devil-worshiping child abuse.
Even now, millions worship an actual living devil. Trump support does have many faithlike aspects. As does the apocalyptic Qanon cult, full of language and imagery emulating religion.
Indeed, a witch hunt, accusing political targets of being Satanic baby eaters (prompting one true believer to shoot up a pizza parlor). The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol too resembled religious fanaticism. As does the anti-vaccine, anti-mask hysteria — responsible for many thousands of deaths.
The age of literal witch hunting began in 1484 when Pope Innocent VIII promulgated a bull declaring “evil angels” a big problem, doing vast harm, especially connected with procreation. He commissioned a report, titled Malleus Malificarum, the “Hammer of Witches.” A how-to manual for the inquisitions and burnings that duly exploded.
Under its system of show trials, devoid of due process rights, any accusation of witchery was effectively conclusive, with torture prescribed to confirm it. An open invitation for accusers to manipulate religious rhetoric for typically bad motives: envy, or personal or political vendettas, or getting hold of victims’ property. Or just one’s own power projection.
Inquisitors were incentivized to profit from their prosecutions. “An expense account scam,” Carl Sagan called it. All costs of the proceedings were billed to victims’ families, including banquets for her judges, the costs of bringing in a professional torturer, and of course the straw and other supplies needed for the burning. Any remaining property was confiscated for the inquisitors’ benefit. And as if that weren’t enough, they earned a bonus for every witch incinerated.
Not surprisingly, witch burnings spread like, well, wildfire.
Some people, at least, must have realized this was deranged and horrific. But you’d better not voice such thoughts — lest you be grabbed yourself in the jaws of this death machine. Safer to cheer it on, or even participate.
Misogyny and repressed sexuality were big factors. While men and women were believed equally vulnerable to Satan, those burned were predominantly female. Prosecuted mostly by clergymen — notionally celibate, but we’ve come to
know the prevalence of misdirected sexuality. The witchery charges often had sexual aspects, requiring careful inspection of private parts, and tortures tailored accordingly. How many victims were there in all? Thousands at least.
This begs comparison with the Holocaust. Europe in that era had a much smaller population then and the death toll was spread over centuries. Yet in both cases, the perpetrators saw themselves on a kind of purification mission.
Some religionists claim there’s no morality without God. In the witch hunts, clearly the evildoers were the God-besotted burners, not the burned. Did it never occur to them it was they themselves doing the devil’s work? With all the extravagant belief in Satan’s devious power to subvert humans to his purposes — the prosecutors didn’t pause to wonder if he was doing it to them? With the mild teachings of Jesus forgotten, they did not realize torturing and burning innocents, often including children, blackening the church with iniquity, was exactly what the Devil would have wanted.
But that might almost have been rational, and reason and religion don’t go together. No morality without God? The witch burnings prove there is no morality without reason.