Re: Happy Alhambra Decree Day

On Mon, 1 Apr 2024 17:55:53 -0000 (UTC)
"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Sun, 31 Mar 2024 21:58:31 -0000 (UTC) Adam H. Kerman
<ahk@chinet.com>: 

 

That's right, children. This is the anniversary of Ferdinand and
Isabella signing the Alhambra decree, expelling the Jews of Spain
from their separate kingdoms, Aragon and Castille. March 31, 1492.
Columbus would set sail for, uh, India a few months later. Quite a
few members of his crew were Jewish. 

 

I didn't know that several of the crew were Jewish. 

 
Most famously, the navigator on Columbus's ship. I'm spacing out on
his name.
 

. . .  

 

100,000 expelled, 200,000 converted, after 50,000 had converted in
the decades after the massacre of 1391. Voluntary conversions, they
were, under penalty of death. Of course the Catholic monarchs
didn't believe them, hence the Spanish Inquisition. Nobody expects
the Spanish Inquisition. 

 

Were the Jews really better treated under the previous Muslim rule
than Catholic rule? 

 
Islam became a huge religion thanks to missionaries and forced
conversion. There's no question that they did it throughout their
history. But from what I've read, there were restrictions on Jews (and
I guess Christians) on the Iberian peninsula, typically about serving
in government. I don't think there were restrictions on business
affairs. I've never read that there were forced conversions on the
Iberian peninsula during several hundred years of Muslim rule.
 
Getting Catholic monarchs onto the throwns of the Spanish kingdoms
was a huge part of the Church's global domination strategy. Nor were
they going to tolerate citizens choosing religion for themselves. The
overt religious intolerance began in earnest around the end of the
14th century and throughout the 15th century, leading up to the
expulsion.
 
In the pre-Christian era, we tried to become the dominant religion,
hence the two Hellenic-style Temples and priests. This begat the
people who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, who objected to having a
Temple-based religion, and eventually led to Christianity. We
shouldn't prosyletize.
 

. . .  

A Jewish friend with an interest in archaelogy once worked on a Roman
dig - I don't recall where beyond it being in Italy - and told me the
Romans viewed Christianity as a mere Jewish sect. That certainly
changed over the following centuries!


--
Rhino