Re:vegetarians and vietnam

["BARY E. SEARS" <besears@erols.com>]

Poster: "BARY E. SEARS" <besears@erols.com>

>Well... almost no-one. I know at least one song current in the Neo-Pagan
>community ("The Burning Times", recorded by Todd Alan) that suggests the
>entire Inquisition was simply a war against women, using "witchcraft"
>charges to shore up the authority of the patriarchy and the Church.


I may be mistaken, but I'm not sure that the term "Inqisition"
is being used in its most correct sense. If by Inquisition 
you are referring to the Spanish Inquisition, I think 
(if my failing memory serves me correctly) that it's mandate
was to pursue and punish heretics--most notably Morranos.  I'm 
sure that the odd "witch" was included in the trials, but that
doesn't appear to have been to have been the major thrust of 
the effort.  As such, it does not appear that it was targetted
against any one sex.  

By my not very exact rembrance of past readings, the death
toll for the Spanish Inquisition was in the tens of thousands,
I believe it to have been under 30,000 over a period of at
least 3 centuries.

In associated readings, I have come across figures between
250,000-30,000 for the death toll ascribed to the witchcraft
trials across Europe. These trials, which may or may not 
have been called inquisitions were conducted under various
auspices--not necessarily the Catholic Church.   
  
Sorry if I couldn't be more precise with my figures--I just
can never lay my hands on the appropriate book when I need
to (probably because I have it lying face down on some
flat surface somewhere...ooops, that's another thread).

Cordelia
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