Religious Prosecution and Conspiracies Flashcards
A common theme with religious prosecution is that there are the same requirements and patterns. What are those two factors?
Natural Disaster or Social Unrest.
Blaming of a Minority Group.
During the Inquisition, all ideas not from the Catholic Church were scrutinized. Hanging and burning of heretics was all too common. However, the last killing of the Inquisition ended in what year, during the time, France was under the rule of Napolean Bonaparte?
1826.
The Economic Journal’s Leeson and Russ came to the conclusion that Witch Hunts were caused by non-price competition between the Catholic and Protestants. What all did this entail?
Catholics and Protestants were competing to be the majority religion. One way they tried to show their religion as superior, was showing how well they can detect and eliminate evil, hoping to make their Church appear better. This is evidential as area with little religious competition saw little to no witch hunts.
This book was written in 1487 by discredited Catholic Heinrich Kramer (discredited due to a failed witch hunt in Germany, leading people to believe he was crazy). This text acted as a way to suppress and torture women (or witches), detailing their powers, intentions, prosecution, and killing of.
Malleus Maleficarum (The Witchhammer).
This conspiracy-based organization is said to have begun in Bavaria, Germany. Specifically, it is believed to be a group of Conservative Catholics who had taken words from the French Encyclopedia to use for world domination. The French Encyclopedia taught science, tolerance, and rationality. It was also said to have 30 or so different texts, and 150+ authors. Being that Catholic Church, they did not like the idea of this organization, and claimed it was therefore Satanic and banished.
The Illuminati.
This conspiracy was actually in the form of a book; a fabricated, antisemitic text that attributed to the Holocaust. Published in 1903, the book claimed to be the minutes of a meeting of Jewish world leaders and their plans to reconstruct society in their image. This book was heavily debunked in 1921, however Hitler still used it to push his political campaign, making it the official text taught in schools.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
This conspiracy took place in the early 1980s. The rise of family daycares became more and more common. Daycares were believed to be destroying the family’ sense of togetherness, therefore earning it the label of Satanic.
The Satanic Panic.
This conspiracy took place during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election (Trump vs. Clinton). Fueled by 4chan and Reddit, the belief was that Democrats who frequented Comet Pizza (a pizzeria in downtown Washington D.C.) were a part of a child-trafficking ring.
Pizzagate.
