Dear Rev. Know-It-All,

I was watching the History Channel the other night and they had a program about the evils of the Spanish Inquisition.  I was appalled!  Can these things be true? 

Please comment.

Ivan der Vatsap

Is “der Vatsap” a Dutch name?  Well, I suppose it doesn't matter.

This is a very complicated subject, not your name, but the Spanish Inquisition and the inquisition in general.  A very good source is the Wikipedia article on the web.  Some of my facts and figures come from that source. 

Let us begin with a little history. 

Spain was a largely Catholic country by the year 400 AD.  About 410 AD it was invaded by Germanic tribes called Visigoths who set up their own kingdom.  They, too, eventually became Catholic, though they had originally been Arian Christians.  They ruled Spain for three hundred years until the north African Muslims (the Moors) invaded Spain during a dispute among the Visigoth rulers. 

Some say that the Moors were actually invited in by one of the Visigothic factions.  In a little more than a year, the Muslims conquered all of Spain, except the northern mountains.  Over the next eight centuries, from about 750 AD until 1492 AD, the Christians took Spain back from the Muslims.

Osama bin Laden mentioned this in one of his manifestos.  Spain belonged to the Muslims and Mr. Bin Laden and his friends intend to have it back.

In 1500, the great Islamic power of the Sultan of Turkey was in the process of invading Europe.  He was stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1529 by the Hapsburgs, and again in 1683 by the Polish king, Jan Sobieski, in the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571 and by the Inquisition in Spain.

Yes, the Inquisition in Spain.

Spain had a population of Jews, Christian and Muslims.  I am a bout to say something that isn't politically correct.  You might want to avert your eyes.  The myth is that they all got along wonderfully. They didn't.

The sultans of Turkey were as insistent as Osama bin Laden that Spain should be Muslim and through Spain, Europe would be open for Islamic conquest.  There was the constant danger that the Muslim population of southern Spain would help the sultans do just that.  So, the kings of Spain decided that if you wanted to stay in Spain you had to be Catholic.  Some left.  Many converted.

The rulers of Spain were worried that even though they had converted to Christianity, the formerly 
Jewish and Moslem population remaining in Spain would rise up and ask the Muslim Sultan of Turkey to take Spain back for Islam, which they in fact did around 1570.  Thousands of Christians were killed, but the Sultan never came and the Moors were finally expelled from Spain around 1610. 

You may think this is ancient history.  Hardly.  Christians are being expelled from Baghdad as I write.  They must convert or die according to the radical Islamists.  People really aren't as nice as we wish they were.  Well, what does all this have to do with the Spanish Inquisition?

The Spanish Inquisition was a commission that made sure that there were no secret Jews, Muslims or Protestants in Spain.  Well, that’s not very nice!  Can’t we all just get along?

This is already long and boring enough so I’ll continue next week by explaining how the Inquisition in Spain was a real life saver.  [click here for Part 2 of this answer]

Yours amazingly,

Rev. Know-It-All
 

Editorial Note:
the second part of this answer is the Q&A entitled
How was the Spanish Inquisition a 'real life saver' ? ! ?
published on May 27, 2007