Inquisition

The Inquisition (Latin: Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis Sanctum Officium) was an office of the Roman Catholic Church charged with suppressing heresy. Its actions and interactions with local governments are the subjects of considerable historical inquiry.

Other Inquisitions

Even though the last Inquisition (The Spanish Inquisition) ended in 1834 almost 200 years ago, the word "Inquisition" remains a part of modern vocabulary; even those with no interest in European history associate it with negative meanings.http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/madden200406181026.asp Because of the negative images associated with the Inquisition, the term has taken on a pejorative usage, and is often used to express disapproval, and is often used in a non-neutral manner, and not as a neutral historical descriptor.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Portugal carried out religious investigations in its overseas colonies, particularly Goa in India, where methods similar to the European Inquisitions were used to eliminate a sort of syncretism that was developing there, which combined aspects of Hinduism and Catholicism (see Goa Inquisition).
• Some Christian fundamentalist authors like Jack Chick and Alberto Rivera, along with other like-minded authors, believe the Nazi Holocaust was an Inquisition against the Jews undertaken by Hitler, a Catholic, at the behest of the Pope. This interpretation of history is highly controversial and is rejected by professional historians.
• In modern American politics, United States Senate investigations are often called "Inquisitions" as a means of expressing disapproval of the investigators. For example some people call the Second Red Scare an inquisition.
• Robert Anton Wilson's book The New Inquisition (ISBN 1561840025) is critical of the application of the Scientific Method in the 20th century.
• Emperor Qian Long's literary inquisition in Qing dynasty China.