Inquisition's instruments of torture teach lessons

By Sandi Dolbee
RELIGION & ETHICS EDITOR

July 7, 2000

It was one of those worst of times in human history, when humanity fell woefully short of being humane and tolerance gave way to torture.

Church and state would form an unholy alliance, leaving a legacy of cruelty in the array of weapons used on people who did not believe as they did.

History books call it the Inquisition, a series of purges that lasted for centuries, through the latter part of the Middle Ages and beyond.

Samples of this legacy are now at the San Diego Museum of Man in Balboa Park. "Inquisition: Torture and Intolerance" opened to the public on Sunday and is scheduled to continue through Nov. 30.

The majority of the approximately 100 pieces -- a combination of originals and reproductions -- are said to be tools of trade from the Inquisition, dating to about the 1400s. There also are some more modern implements of mayhem.

Visitors will see hanging cages, in which a person was locked inside and hoisted into the air, left to die of hunger and thirst. There's a "heretic's fork," a metal collar with a pair of sharp prongs connected by a short rod; rammed under the chin and the sternum, the device prevents head movement, except perhaps to gasp the words, "I recant." And there are various instruments used to stretch a person's limbs and joints to excruciating levels of dislocation.

On loan from the Medieval Criminal Museum in San Gimignano, Italy, the traveling exhibition is making its U.S. debut in San Diego. It's intended to be more than just a display of gruesome ways to hurt, maim and kill dissenters. It also serves as a combination history lesson and reminder about what can happen when tyranny becomes part of the culture.

Becoming aware

The purpose is to raise consciousness, says Donatella Montina, the exhibit's curator from Italy. It's not about politics or any specific religion, but about society. "What is it inside of us to allow it to happen," she says through an interpreter.

Montina points out that torture is alive and well in many countries today. "We need to be conscious of it and question our own humanity."

Why bring up the past?

"We shouldn't forget," says Museum of Man director Douglas Sharon. "Human beings tend to have selective memories."

History books tell us that the Inquisition became institutionalized in the 13th century under Pope Gregory IX. Papal inquisitors were recruited to root out heretics considered to be a threat to society. As the campaign progressed through various parts of Europe, Jews, Muslims, Protestants and others not in favor with those in power were punished. Many paid with their lives.

It was a time when there were no Jeffersonian walls separating church and state.

The Inquisition is "the worst-case scenario of theocracy run amok," says J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, an advocacy group for the separation of church and state in Washington, D.C.

"It's always important to remind ourselves of what the merger of church and state has wrought over the past several centuries," he adds.

Absolutism's peril

Evelyn Kirkley, assistant professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego, sees both positive and negative messages from that time in history. The positive message is that religion was a powerful force in society. The negative message is that people fell prey to intolerance.

"I think the danger is in absolutism," says Kirkley. "I think the danger is in the belief that your way is the only way and not extending to God the power to judge ultimately what is right and wrong."

Edward Peters, a professor of medieval history at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book, "Inquisition," argues that much of what we think we know about that era is "greatly exaggerated."

He debunks reports of widespread torture and executions against non-Catholics as revisionist history. The campaign, he believes, was "relatively confined."

And the notion of using this as a lesson to not repeat our mistakes? Peters doesn't think so. "There is far more torture and much more sophisticated torture going on in the world today."

The exhibit drew large crowds to Tijuana's Cultural Center four years ago (the show was titled "European Instruments of Torture and Capital Punishment" back then). But it also drew criticism from some who considered the message to be anti-Catholic. Where, for example, was the mention of Catholics killed in England by Protestant oppressors?

Exhibition organizers say they are not trying to vilify a particular faith. The written narratives that accompany the pieces are more concerned with how the instruments were used. The exhibition describes the Inquisition, for example, as a "special religious court" established for the "repression of heresy."

Charles Haynes, an expert in religious liberty issues, says the Inquisition is often misunderstood as some sort of commentary on the Roman Catholic faith.

"I think that's unfair because the Inquisition was different in different places and was not necessarily consistent with the principles of the faith or often even what the leaders of the church in Rome might have wanted," says Haynes, who is a senior scholar at the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University.

Actually, Pope John Paul II himself may have quieted some of the historical controversy when he issued an unprecedented public apology in March for past sins committed by the church.

While he did not mention the Inquisition by name, his repentence was sweeping: "We cannot not recognize the betrayal of the Gospel committed by some of our brothers, especially in the second millennium. Recognizing the deviations of the past serves to reawaken our consciences to the compromises of the present."

Lessons to learn

Can an exhibit like this "reawaken our consciences?"

Ron Lanoue, regional executive director of the National Conference, an anti-bigotry human rights organization, thinks it can.

"It forces (visitors) to think and, hopefully, remember these kinds of things if they have to confront hatred of this kind in their lives," he says.

Kirkley, the USD professor, also sees it as a way of helping to recognize current transgressions. "Who are the people who are now targeted?" she asks. " ... It's not a large leap from burning witches in the Middle Ages to incinerating Jews in the Holocaust and bashing gays and lesbians today."

Massimo Seracini, a businessman with offices in National City and Italy, helped arrange for "Inquisition: Torture and Intolerance" to come to San Diego. He says he wants people to be more than merely entertained or astonished.

"We don't want to scare people," Seracini says. "We want to educate people."