[Kim Seong-kon] Looking back upon the inquisitions and witch trials

We humans are afraid of the unknown. That is why we have feelings of wariness and vigilance when we see strangers or foreigners around us. Sometimes, we may even become hostile to those who are not one of us or who are different from us. This is especially so when we are obsessed with tribalism, ultra-nationalism or dogmatic ideologies, whether political or religious.

Nazism, communism and religious dogmatism are good examples. These have one thing in common: They do not tolerate differences. They perceive different races, creeds and faiths as a threat and condemn them as inferior species, reactionaries or heretics. The firm conviction that they are right and pure and that others are wrong and impure justifies their cruelty and brutality. Therefore, they do not hesitate to kill others under the excuse of “cleansing” or “purging.”

As for communism and Christianity, they have long thought of each other as threats and adversaries. Despite fundamental differences, however, they have exhibited one striking similarity: neither can endure different creeds and beliefs. In the past, therefore, some communist regimes ruthlessly executed opponents they called “reactionaries” through summary courts, and premodern Christian inquisitors, too, brutally killed adversaries they called “heretics” through inquisitions and witch trials.

According to historians, witch hunts were fueled by “widespread hysteria, church politics or family feuds.” Approximately 80 percent of the convicted were widows or older women from the lower classes who did not have connections to the upper class. During the witch hunts, between 40,000 and 60,000 women were reportedly executed under the charge of witchcraft. Even Martin Luther himself did not oppose it, so witch hunts continued even after the Protestant Reformation. It lasted roughly three hundred years, from the late 15th century to the late 18th century.

Writers and intellectuals have constantly warned of the danger of such ideological frenzies. For example, in Arthur Miller’s seminal play “The Crucible,” published in 1953, the Puritans’ Salem witch trials were used as a metaphor to criticize McCarthyism, a political movement that persecuted Americans who were accused of being communists in the 1950s. Indeed, Puritans were so self-righteous that they firmly believed that they were pure and chaste, and all others were tainted and corrupted. In Miller’s eyes, McCarthyism strongly resembled Puritan witch hunts.

In his 1980 monumental novel, “The Name of the Rose,” Umberto Eco, too, criticized those who were self-righteous and dogmatic, using the motif of witch trials during the premodern period. In the novel, Grand Inquisitor Bernard Gui, who is based on the historical figure, brutally persecuted and executed those whom he accused of being heretics or witches. Eco presents Bernardo Gui as a personification of evil who falsely accuses innocent people as heretics and kills them in the name of the church.

In the story, the protagonist Brother William of Baskerville tells his novice assistant Adso, “Often inquisitors create heretics. And not only in the sense that they imagine heretics where these do not exist, but also that inquisitors repress heretical putrefaction so vehemently that many are driven to share in it, in their hatred for the judges.” William also advises Adso: “Fear prophets, Adso, and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them.”

Today, we no longer allow such shameful human follies and atrocities as inquisitions or witch trials. Regrettably, however, we still often see age-old prejudices, hostilities and systematic discrimination against those with different opinions, ideologies or faiths everywhere on the globe. The war between different religions is still going on, and so is the war of ideologies between the left and the right. Politicians turn into inquisitors to persecute and punish those who have different creeds under the pretext of “justice,” “public safety” or “national security.”

Korea is not an exception. Whether they are on the left or right, our political leaders’ catchphrases have always been similar: In the past, a right-wing military dictator’s motto was “Make a clean sweep of the old evils and corruptions.” Years later, a left-wing administration’s motto was: “Clean up the accumulated, deep-rooted evils,” which referred to their political foes who had a different political ideology. Given these unsettling parallels, whenever our politicians launch special committees to investigate past errors of judgment, we can only hope that they do not repeat the same mistakes.

Those who hate and criticize McCarthyism are not supposed to make the same mistake on the other side of the fence. If they do, they, too, will end up becoming the same “villainous fanatics” they vehemently criticize. To build a better society for our children, we should embrace those who are different from us and pursue a peaceful coexistence with them, instead of antagonizing them as heretics or witches.

We no longer live in the medieval or premodern period. Modern-day inquisitions or witch trials are the last thing we want to see in the 21st century.

Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer‘s own. -- Ed.