Gilbert definitely isn't saying there was "no Inquisition". He's questioning the manner in which the Inquisition has been written about over the years, then and now, and by whom.
Like him, I see a "Black Legend" being created and sustained about the Inquisition in Goa too. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_legend] While the Inquisition was harsh and medieval in its times (as harsh as any other form of religious, political or ideological excesses of the 16th or 17th centuries or later, many of which go otherwise uncommented on), the Inquisition has come to play a very political role in the 20th and 21st centuries specially. There are also signs of it having been given a political spin in earlier centuries, but those were for different reasons, more to do with inter-colonial rivalry and less pressing to us in contemporary Goa. The debates about the "Goa Inquisition" today have little to do with the past, and more to do with the present, including contemporary communalism. It's hard not to reach this conclusion, George's attempts at trivialising the debate nonetheless. FN PS: I think David Higgs in Canada is making some very interesting points about the Inquisition in Goa. How did it compare to other brutalities of the time? How was it projected? What were the interests of those writing about it? Why is it that a handful of -- probably not wholly disinterested -- authors get quoted all the time? Also see http://www.speroforum.com/a/19896/The-Inquisition-in-India-and-its-critics Economic and Political Weekly Twisting the Tale – Goa's Anti-Colonial. Stir Retold http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg20414.html Frederick Noronha :: +91-9822122436 :: +91-832-2409490 On 2 December 2010 01:25, George Pinto <[email protected]> wrote: Gilbert is right, there was no Goa inquisition. Please do not shoot the messenger (moi) for pointing this out but Gilbert is correct to imply the Portuguese were the first native inhabitants of Goa and Goan Hindus invaded the place. The first thing they did was build temples on existing churches. Subsequently, Catholics "architecturally modified" the temples by constructing churches over temples but this was purely for aesthetic reasons. I mean, who can be against a little aesthetic change, like the Afghan Taliban did to Buddhist statues a few years ago. The only incident we have on record regarding the Goa Inquisition is one Catholic stole some milk sometime between Oct 4 to Oct 14, 1582 but Pope Gregory XIII changed the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar to remove those 10 days and wipe out the Goa inquisition. Of course atheist medical doctors paid by BIG Pharma drug companies have said that the Pope changed the calendar to bring it back in line with the solstices. We know how deceptive scientists can be, especially when some blamed Catholics for irregularities in the Vatican Bank about 35 years ago, when everyone knows that Parsis, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, and Martians were responsible. Can you imagine blaming Catholics for the Vatican Bank troubles! I hope everyone thanks Gilbert for his defense of Catholics.
