Summary: From the High Middle Ages, Europe developed into a “persecuting society,” obsessed with stamping out the “cancer” of heresy. Why was human choice in matters of religious belief considered a mortal threat to Christendom itself? Are inquisitions a thing of a past and dark hyper-religious age, or a timeless instrument with appeal to the “righteous mind” whether secular or religious? What are the similarities between medieval laws against heresy and modern laws against hate speech?
