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Section 11; Group 1 (The Inquisition)

            Elizabeth Barnard

Last Thursday in our group we discussed The Awakening. We found that the short poems discussed on page 267 were a unique and helpful way to awaken someone’s mind and soul to Zen. The main idea is technique.

The inquisition was a series of trials held in the 16^th century questioning writers, philosophers, and peasants who spoke of god in a manner that was not Catholic. This was during the Renaissance period and it was a great time of reformation of religion. People began to live openly on their own independent religious or spiritual beliefs. I find it interesting how the book expresses at this early time period “anyone who questioned religious doctrine” was commonly called Lutheran. Lutheran is now a religion practiced by many people. Noel Journet questioned The Book of Moses in the Bible claiming he could not have written the Book of Deuteronomy because it talks about his death. He claimed it was a “fable”. The Inquisition burned him with his books.  Menocchio was a peasant. He became mayor of his village. He spoke of the air being God. He explained God was made up of different combinations of things and how people perceive them. He felt it was impossible for the Virgin Mary to give birth to baby Jesus. There were many secret Lutheran groups. Geneva was a town where people could openly express their religious beliefs. Menocchio was sentenced to solitary confinement for years. Bruno was a priest who spoke of the position of bodies being relative to one another. He was accused of having an outrageous scientific theory. He believed God was “the same thing as the universe, and the world as we know it”. He was thrown in a dungeon for six years. He then attacked the professors for mocking his ideas and he was burned at the stake. By the end of the 16^th century the king had his Catholic noblemen kill about “100 reformed church friends and family members”. He feared what they might do. It started more killings by Catholics that grew to 3000 people.

Fact: What term was used commonly by people to describe anyone who questioned the religious doctrine? Lutheran

Discussion: The king having killed because people had reformed from the Catholic religion and were independent is a prime example of how someone can use religion to gain power over large masses of people. Do you think the trials would have ended in death if they were more evolved? Or do you think the idea of having power and control over people by killing the accused would have been more important? We must live under a system that operates for the better of society. I think exceeding the limitations of power by denying people of their rights and their freedom is reversing the idea of evolving into a better life for society.