Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

The Demon-Haunted World
of God in various passages of both the Old and New
Testament.
Innocent commended 'Our dear sons Henry Kramer and James
Sprenger' who 'have been by Letters Apostolic delegated as
Inquisitors of these heretical [de]pravities'. If 'the abominations
and enormities in question remain unpunished,' the souls of
multitudes face eternal damnation.
The Pope appointed Kramer and Sprenger to write a comprehensive
analysis, using the full academic armoury of the late
fifteenth century. With exhaustive citations of scripture and of
ancient and modern scholars, they produced the Malleus Maleficarum,
the 'Hammer of Witches', aptly described as one of the
most terrifying documents in human history. Thomas Ady, in A
Candle in the Dark, condemned it as 'villainous Doctrines &
Inventions', 'horrible lyes and impossibilities', serving to hide
'their unparalleled cruelty from the ears of the world'. What the
Malleus comes down to, pretty much, is that if you're accused of
witchcraft, you're a witch. Torture is an unfailing means to
demonstrate the validity of the accusation. There are no rights of
the defendant. There is no opportunity to confront the accusers.
Little attention is given to the possibility that accusations might be
made for impious purposes - jealousy, say, or revenge, or the
greed of the inquisitors who routinely confiscated for their own
private benefit the property of the accused. This technical manual
for torturers also includes methods of punishment tailored to
release demons from the victim's body before the process kills
her. The Malleus in hand, the Pope's encouragement guaranteed,
Inquisitors began springing up all over Europe.
It quickly became an expense account scam. All costs of
investigation, trial and execution were borne by the accused or her
relatives, down to per diem for the private detectives hired to spy
on her, wine for her guards, banquets for her judges, the travel
expenses of a messenger sent to fetch a more experienced torturer
from another city, and the faggots, tar and hangman's rope. Then
there was a bonus to the members of the tribunal for each witch
burned. The convicted witch's remaining property, if any, was
divided between Church and State. As this legally and morally
113