Marcus Wells / TRS 132 01 / Task 1B / September 22nd

1. In the centuries leading up to the 1500s, Western Societies were characterized by Roman Law. This is where the
word inquisition derives from which is based off of medieval latin, inquisito, referring to any judicial or court
process based off of Roman Law (Wiki.43.5). In the time before 1500, the Catholic Church had already successfully
squashed any threat of what they considered to be heretical, or any religion other than that of the church, through
ways not involving torture (Wiki.43.9). Religion played a key part in the lives of every person. Because of this,
anything that differed from the norm was considered a threat and heretical. There was no separation of church and
state; any threat to the faith was a threat to society. The punishment of those who didnt follow the status quo
practices were part of the law and sanctioned by The Pope (49.1), whom at the time, had nearly as much authority as
a king.
2. In American society today, religious toleration is the general consensus across the nation. Tolerance is what the
U.S is built off of an its even stated in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights that our government will ever favor
or show any sort of unfavorability toward any religion (Bill of Rights.69.1). Even churches tied down to one faith
have a general understanding and acceptance of other religions. In the article Three faiths, three friends, we see
prime example of how people from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religion can come together in harmony and
mutual understanding (Frykholm.75.5).
3. When you compare these two pictures you see how the idea of right and wrong when it comes to religion has
completely changed. In modern day, no religion is considered correct or a threat in any way from a government
standpoint or other churches. In the 1500s though if you werent part of what the combined church and state
considered to be the correct religion you were a threat to society and the government and therefore heretical and
could be punished to death. That kind of behavior would never be tolerated in todays American society and such
behavior would not be taken lightly by the church, state, and society itself.
4. I think its valuable to look back into time and see how we have evolved and become more tolerant over time
because the way we learn from mistakes is how we fix problems that arise in the future similar to the past. The
tolerance we have come to have in American society shows what community can do to improve a society. The
treatment of people for being different in 1500 was an act of incompetent fear that can come when establishment
feels threatened by something which I think shows the benefits we get from separating church and state in America.