Il sito Witchwox riporta un'interessante analisi storica retrospettiva sul fenomeno della caccia alle streghe.
Troverete citato Cornelius Loos, un prete cattolico romano olandese che all'epocasi era opposto allacaccia alle streghe. Un bravo ragazzo della sua epoca.
One of the fiercest Witch-hunts was in western Germany, in the second half of the 16th century. Men, women and children were dragged from their homes to be tortured and condemned by a jury of village folk. They were usually killed first and then their bodies burnt to make sure that they would not return from the grave.
The Dutch scholar Looos Callidius tried to persuade people that these claims were false. He wrote: "magic (magia) ought not to he called witchcraft (maleficium) , nor magicians (magi) witches (malefici) , and that the passage of Holy Scripture, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Maleficos non patieris vivere) , is to be understood of those who by a natural use of natural poisons inflict death."
This might not seem like its related, but Feminism is an important part of Witchcraft. The Witch Craze of 16-18th centuries was a crime against women; it was an issue of women's rights. The old religions gave women rights where the Church took them away. The Bible declared that women were responsible for all the ills of the world, and that they should be punished, and live as slaves to men. Christians believed that women were inherently sinful and their lustful nature attracted them to Witchcraft - which they equated with Devil worship. Because of this belief, 75% of the thousands of people tortured and killed for Witchcraft were women.
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=ukgb2&c=words&id=13174
