In the year of the Inquisition, a period beginning in the 1200s and into the 1800s, people did not hesitate to participate in the witch trials anymore because they have the Bible to back them up, as stated in Exodus: “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live” (Kronzek, and Kronzek 259-261). Furthermore, in the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament of the Bible, witchcraft usually pertains to women who utter curses for the purpose of injuring other people and razing crops. Meanwhile, in the Christian Scriptures or the New Testament of the Bible, witchcraft applies to people who make noxious substances to murder people (Robinson). It is also encouraged by a number of papal decrees like when Pope Innocent IV allowed the employment of torment or cruelty in 1252, and Pope Alexander IV authorized the Inquisition full control over the persecution of witches (Ellwood). According to James M. Henslin, this is one of the dysfunctions of religion because it is used to justify a persecution. Women were forced to say that they are guilty because of the extreme tortures brought about by the Christian officials, and then they are burned at the stake (344). I never knew that religion or the faith of the people brought so much pain and misjudgments in the past. After all, it is the Bible that encourages us to be good toward each other, and not to cast the first stone.

The second cause that propelled witch hunting, and probably the most influential is the development of the printing press in the mid-1400s, which contributed to the passing of information and ideas to the readers. In particular, a book entitled Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of Witches, by the German witch hunters Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, attracted a mass of readers. It is very popular that it became a best-selling book in 1486, second to the Bible in sales, and was read for over two hundred years. It provides generous information about the petrifying rituals of witches, why witchcraft is related to the devil, and how to tell if a person is a witch. What’s more, through the support of Pope Innocent VIII, Kramer and Sprenger’s book was proven unquestionable and is the absolute fact. However, what’s unfair is that the accused persons were given no right to explain or ask help from their lawyers (Kronzek, and Kronzek 259-260; Guiley, “Witches” 370-372).

I have mentioned earlier that witch persecution or killings was ended in the year 1775. However, this is not entirely true for there are reports from India, Tanzania, Africa, Zambia, and many more, about witch killings, which are still happening today. The latest news was last November 14, 2002, it was about a family charged with witchcraft for the murder of boys (Martin). Furthermore, a woman from Hyderabad was tortured for practicing witchcraft in November 9, 2002 (Sudhir). These news was actually a shock for me, for I never knew that people still get defensive when it comes to witchcraft. At least, in my former country, there are no accounts regarding witch killings, nor a historical background of burning at the stakes. All I know is: if you respect these women (usually), they will respect you back. Just treat them as a human being with special abilities, in that way you’ll understand them and appreciate them more. If ever the basis is religion, then it is their problem for they will be the ones who will be burned in hell, not you.

According to Robert S. Ellwood, the first part of the history of witchcraft is sorcery, which refers “primarily to witchcraft in primal and ancient societies” (Ellwood). Its time period dates back from the ancient times to the early thirteenth century, in which witches are deemed practicing the invocation of the spirit, casting spells, concoction-making, and all things related to magic (Guiley, “Witches” 368-369). In this era, people in traditional countries described witches as old women with long tousled hair, mole or mark on the face, and barefooted, that is a

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