The Spanish Inquisition was bad to be clear and I don’t advocate for anything like it, but my understanding is that despite the many forced or pressured conversions, many conversions also happened voluntarily. And even amongst the many who were pressured, they came to genuinely appreciate and identify with the Christian faith over time.
The Spanish Inquisition was bad to be clear and I don’t advocate for anything like it, but my understanding is that despite the many forced or pressured conversions, many conversions also happened voluntarily. And even amongst the many who were pressured, they came to genuinely appreciate and identify with the Christian faith over time.
“As time passed, the conversos settled into their new religion, becoming just as pious as other Catholics. Their children were baptized at birth and raised as Catholics. But they remained in a cultural netherworld. Although Christian, most conversos still spoke, dressed, and ate like Jews. Many continued to live in Jewish quarters so as to be near family members. The presence of conversos had the effect of Christianizing Spanish Judaism. This in turn led to a steady stream of voluntary conversions to Catholicism.
In 1414 a debate was held in Tortosa between Christian and Jewish leaders. Pope Benedict XIII himself attended. On the Christian side was the papal physician, Jeronimo de Santa Fe, who had recently converted from Judaism. The debate brought about a wave of new voluntary conversions. In Aragon alone, 3,000 Jews received baptism. All of this caused a good deal of tension between those who remained Jewish and those who became Catholic. Spanish rabbis after 1391 had considered conversos to be Jews, since they had been forced into baptism. Yet by 1414, rabbis repeatedly stressed that conversos were indeed true Christians, since they had voluntarily left Judaism.”
Admittedly this is perhaps not the most clear cut example I could have picked. Conversos were persecuted even after conversion, more so at times than actual Jews. But nonetheless, over the long run based on their population numbers, they appear to have been a highly successful group. And the broader principle I wrote of applies to all who find they have Jewish ancestry, which goes far beyond the Iberian context.
I'm sure there were many who converted to Christianity and other religions willingly both before and after the Inquisition and assimilated successfully. The basic premise would have stood even if they had all initially converted by force. That wasn't my point. My point was it was an odd rhetorical tool to use such an impressive number (200M!) to show successful assimilation when there's no doubt that many of their ancestors did convert by force.
Anyway, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that I think people who don't want to partake in Judaism just shouldn't. Assimilate away if that's what you choose. The social punishment that often comes with it may be difficult and unfortunate, but it is far from getting killed for eating pork in 99.9% of cases. It is also hard to say that the social punishment is responsible for Judaism's persistence although one can certainly speculate.
The Spanish Inquisition was bad to be clear and I don’t advocate for anything like it, but my understanding is that despite the many forced or pressured conversions, many conversions also happened voluntarily. And even amongst the many who were pressured, they came to genuinely appreciate and identify with the Christian faith over time.
Catholic source, so probably some bias not unlike Jewish writers on the topic, but see here: https://crisismagazine.com/vault/the-truth-about-the-spanish-inquisition-2
“As time passed, the conversos settled into their new religion, becoming just as pious as other Catholics. Their children were baptized at birth and raised as Catholics. But they remained in a cultural netherworld. Although Christian, most conversos still spoke, dressed, and ate like Jews. Many continued to live in Jewish quarters so as to be near family members. The presence of conversos had the effect of Christianizing Spanish Judaism. This in turn led to a steady stream of voluntary conversions to Catholicism.
In 1414 a debate was held in Tortosa between Christian and Jewish leaders. Pope Benedict XIII himself attended. On the Christian side was the papal physician, Jeronimo de Santa Fe, who had recently converted from Judaism. The debate brought about a wave of new voluntary conversions. In Aragon alone, 3,000 Jews received baptism. All of this caused a good deal of tension between those who remained Jewish and those who became Catholic. Spanish rabbis after 1391 had considered conversos to be Jews, since they had been forced into baptism. Yet by 1414, rabbis repeatedly stressed that conversos were indeed true Christians, since they had voluntarily left Judaism.”
Admittedly this is perhaps not the most clear cut example I could have picked. Conversos were persecuted even after conversion, more so at times than actual Jews. But nonetheless, over the long run based on their population numbers, they appear to have been a highly successful group. And the broader principle I wrote of applies to all who find they have Jewish ancestry, which goes far beyond the Iberian context.
I'm sure there were many who converted to Christianity and other religions willingly both before and after the Inquisition and assimilated successfully. The basic premise would have stood even if they had all initially converted by force. That wasn't my point. My point was it was an odd rhetorical tool to use such an impressive number (200M!) to show successful assimilation when there's no doubt that many of their ancestors did convert by force.
Anyway, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that I think people who don't want to partake in Judaism just shouldn't. Assimilate away if that's what you choose. The social punishment that often comes with it may be difficult and unfortunate, but it is far from getting killed for eating pork in 99.9% of cases. It is also hard to say that the social punishment is responsible for Judaism's persistence although one can certainly speculate.