Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness (Paperback)

by James A. Haught (Author) "In 1766 at Abbeville, France, a teen-age boy was accused of singing irreligious songs, mocking the Virgin Mary, marring a crucifix, and wearing his hat..." (more)
Key Phrases: Library of Congress, Peoples Temple, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In 1583 in Vienna, a 16-year-old girl suffered stomach cramps. A team of Jesuits exorcized her for eight weeks. The priests announced that they had expelled 12,652 demons from her, demons that her grandmother had kept as flies in glass jars. The grandmother was tortured into confessing that she was a witch who had engaged in sex with Satan. She was then burned at the stake. This was one of perhaps one million such executions during three centuries of witch-hunts.

In 1989 in Moradabad, India, a pig caused hundreds of people to kill one another when the animal walked through a Muslim holy ground. Muslims, who think pigs are an embodiment of Satan, accused Hindus of driving the pig into the sacred spot. Members of both faiths went on a rampage, stabbing and clubbing. The pig riot spread to a dozen cities and left two hundred dead.

A squad of armed Islamic zealots raided a Christian church at Behawalpur, Pakistan, on October 28, 2001, killing the minister, fourteen worshipers, and the church's police guard.

It is said that there is never enough religion in the world to make people love one another--just enough to make them hate one another. Incendiary blends of fundamentalist religion, politics, nationalism, and ethnic zealotry engender countless examples of atrocity in the name of faith and orthodoxy. If anything, religious persecution is more savage now than ever before in the history of mankind.

HOLY HORRORS chronicles the grim spectrum of religious persecution from ancient times to the present. Fully illustrated with drawings, woodcuts, and photographs, the book recounts such historic religious persecution as the Crusades, the Islamic jihads, the Catholic wars against heretics, the Inquisition, witch-hunts, and the Reformation. It also chronicles modern-day atrocities, including the Holocaust, the seemingly insoluble Catholic-Protestant schism in Northern Ireland, religious tribalism in Lebanon, and the barbaric cruelty of the theocracy in Iran.

Product Details

• Paperback: 237 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573927783
• ISBN-13: 978-1573927789
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #678,834 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Crimes of Religion, July 30, 2000

By	mrgrieves08 (tucson) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness (Hardcover)

This book is a very useful and enlightening guide to the history of religion, and its accompanying violence. In this expose Haught plays no favorites in exposing the crimes and inhumanities of Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs, Jews, and of course Catholics and Protestants. One of the striking things about this book is that it provides a revealing look into the nature of religious violence, and offers some valuable insights into the continuing religious violence and genocide today. Although practically everyone knows about the extermination of the Jews in WWII, few people think about why it happened. After reading this book, you will have a much better understanding about this horrible chapter in history. Afterall Germany was not an Atheistic country, it was strongly Protestant, what happened was the horrible result of centuries of built up hatred, caused ultimately by religion.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be Required Literature in High School, February 5, 2000

By	"ebreit42" (New Port Richey, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness (Hardcover)

All people, religious or not, should read this book. Mr. Haught does a wonderful job of describing the horrors of what people will do to defend their gods. This is a book that will make anyone think twice about asserting that religion is only benevolent. Not that religion has no good, neither me nor Haught assert that, but we must all never allow ourselves to slide back to the smoke filled days of the Inquisition. The fact that this book discusses modern religious strife shows that holy hatred is not something of the past. It walks among us today, a shadow in the light of reason. We are not here to kill each other, unfortunately most people don't seem to agree. Thus our secular state: The first amendment doesn't protect us from God, it protects us from His followers. Unless you think Iran is a nice place to live, you'll believe in church-state separation after you read this.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Basic Introduction to the Follies of Religion, August 19, 2000

By	Bradley P. Rich (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness (Hardcover)

This book is scary! To read the assembled horrors that organized religion has visited on mankind is terrifying. This book covers all of the major religions, not just the familiar Christian tales of witchcraft and the Inquisition. However, note: it is just an introduction and is written on a pretty basic level. It would make a great junior high school text, except you can't imagine who would teach it.