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Wednesday, June 28, 2006
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FORCED BAPTISMS
Ever since Christianity became the state religion under Constantine in the 4th
century, Jewish communities were often persecuted by means of expulsion, the
burning of synagogues and forced baptisms, with the aim of forcibly supressing
Judaism.
In spite of the clear decree issued by the emperor forbidding forced
baptisms and declaring freedom of religion, including Judaism, Jews were
repeatedly attacked. In areas around the Rhone river in southern France, Jewish
children were forcibly baptized until the year 950.
Constantine protected the Jews and meted out severe punishment for practices
such as the “abduction of Jewish children.” Nevertheless, the crusaders often
forced the Jews to choose between “baptism or death.”
From the 12th century on, as introduced by Innocence III, popes regarded any
agreement to be baptized, even if it was obtained under torture, as a voluntary
and thus irreversible conversion. Under papal decrees known as the Sicut
Iudaeis (Constitution of the Jews), forced converts who recanted were
considered heretics and could be burned at the stake. The severe consequences of
these measures were felt by the Jews in Spain in 1492 and in Portugal in 1497
during the Spanish Inquisition. Forced baptisms took place until the 19th
century, in Italy, Galicia (Spain) and Poland.
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