[FoRK] " Atheists behind the greatest cruelty, says Pope"

[Jeffrey Winter]

If it's just about a body count, according to Norman Cantor anyway 
(See his excellent: Civilization of the Middle Ages 
http://amazon.com/o/asin/0060925531) the total deaths that can be 
attributed to the Catholic Inquisitions both Papal (12th-13th 
centuries) and Spanish (15th-16th centuries) probably did
not total more than ten thousand. 

Not that this much matters if you're the one on the pyre.

Still, Stannard's argument in "American Holocaust" is that European 
Christianity as manifested by the Spanish Inquisition imbued
the colonizers with a culture of death that resulted in the
subjugation and slaughter of the Native Americans.  I found this
argument to be weak, but his documentation of the brutality 
and its effects was very well done.  But even he doesn't claim
these deaths were part of the Inquisition and that most deaths
were the result of non-native disease infestations.




-----Original Message-----
From: fork-bounces at xent.com [mailto:fork-bounces at xent.com] On Behalf Of
Luis Villa
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 12:34 PM
To: Friends of Rohit Khare
Cc: Robert.Harley at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [FoRK] " Atheists behind the greatest cruelty, says Pope"

On Dec 4, 2007 12:20 PM, Tom Higgins <tomhiggins at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 4, 2007 8:03 AM, Robert Harley <robert.harley at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >* 'One source estimates that as many as 60 million Native Americans
were
> > *>* killed during the Spanish Inquisition.'
> >
> > Another source estimates that none were at all.  Zero.  Nada.
>
> Which sources?

Sources which blame it on politics or wealth-seeking; of course, the
politicians and wealth-seekers all told themselves and their publics
that it was in the name of God. Convenient circularity there that lets
you blame it on whoever you like.

Luis
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