Purging of the Campus Heretics:
Rebirth of the Inquisition
by Kaira Zoe Alburo

During the 12th century, the Catholic Church went on a paranoid crusade to seek out and prosecute heretics, those unworthy and profane souls who dared to blaspheme the name of the Almighty, some perhaps by portraying the Lord in lewd caricatures or using his and his mother’s divine image to criticize the Church and society. Because of the rise of certain religious sects such as the Albigenses and the Waldenses that spread wild ideas that the Papacy considered sacrilegious, an institution of terror was established primarily for the purging of the hated heretics-the Inquisition.

What followed was a ghastly display of holy violence.

The Inquisition was notoriously harsh with its procedures, unimaginable for an institution ordained by God to defend the faith. But the Church then justified these acts by appealing to biblical practices interpreted as endorsing the use of force against heretics (Luke 14:23). Thousands of reputed heretics were tortured, imprisoned, publicly shunned and even executed usually through burning at the stake, so like the tales we’ve heard about the Salem Witch Hunts. Noted people like the philosopher Giordano Bruno, scientist Galileo Galilei, Joan of Arc, and the religious order of knights called the Templars also fell victim to these gruesome crusades, mostly for the crime of thinking far beyond their time.

The Church now expresses regret over the unnecessary loss of human lives during that which is aptly called the darker times of Christian History.

But does the Inquisition remain only in memory, long dead after the reaffirmation of the Church? Or has it only lain dormant, undetected, but still atrociously lashing out at puny pathetic victims, those heretics, who have the nerve to go against the authority of the powers-that-be?

Heresy by any other name

As an alternative press, student publications serve as a crucial instrument in protecting the rights and welfare of the students as well as ensure that a democratic atmosphere is maintained. And in the realization of that role, campus journalists are often the target of persecution for the crime of service, of going against established regulations that prove detrimental to students, of being deviants from what should be as dictated by the system. They are the campus-based heretics of the modern world. And the modern day Inquisition is hot on their trail.

But what is heresy in its literal form? It simply means dissent, a deviation from the orthodox way, the accepted way, of thinking. An idea, therefore, is only heretical in relative terms, with a dependence upon the context in which it is contrived.

As students, especially studying in an institution espousing liberal education, we ought to be encouraged to question, to criticize, if not openly admonish practices we see unbefitting of an institution claiming as such. The student paper is one such outlet, but instead of encouraging open inquiry, most universities and colleges would rather have writers who are meek and gullible, not capable of questioning and identifying the processes and happenings around them even if they are hit square in the face (and, as much as possible, writers should be discouraged from learning the mysterious art of lampoon writing). Those who do stand against injustice are also those thrown at the mercy of the Inquisition, persecuted as heretics of the worse kind.

In the light of holy oppression

There are too many documented cases all over the Philippines of student publications being harassed, repressed and even closed down, all because they circulated “heretical” ideas not to the liking of feudal administrators (a.k.a. the Grand Inquisitors), ideas that offend the sensibilities of the institutions that simply happen to be repressive.

In the local scene, the campus press is not entirely free from the constant bashing of the mighty arm of the reviled Inquisition that is the Student Affairs Services.

The Voice of Talamban, for example, has had quite an unpleasant encounter, to put it mildly, with SAS during an investigation conducted by the latter regarding the alleged libelous statements published in previous issues. In The Sound of Silence, the magazine released by VOT last semester, the history of the struggles of the publication was recounted. It noted the painstaking process they had to endure so that they could uphold the legacy of the Voice even under pressure of the mighty SAS, with the constant threat of suspension and even closure. All this happened because they were considered deviant and defiant, when in fact they were only defending what they felt was right, standing by their commitment to place the interest of the students, their publisher, first.

Today’s CAROLINIAN is also no exemption.

At present, your official publication is facing charges of an ambiguous nature ranging from irreverence to outright blasphemy because of the lampoons we published in the November 2002 issue of The Red & Black. Which of the two, or of those in between, is the real charge against Today’s CAROLINIAN eludes us, although we know that it is none of the above for we only fight for true democracy as unquestionably and irrevocably embedded in the wisdom of Jesus.

During a certain “clarificatory” meeting, we’ve had to put up with all the self-righteous condemnations from the people of the SAS Inquisition who are supposed to stand impartial to the issue, but are enthusiastically giving out prejudgments-an act ethically uncalled for and beyond legal protocol. We’ve been implicitly branded as unchristian, heretics in the truest sense of the word, just because they saw only the form of our message and not the content. But in essence, who is the true heretic in relation to the radical teachings of Christ?

Isn’t it the Student Affairs Services, and ultimately, the USC administration, who implemented the immoral new uniform and, in general, the gender biased uniform policy in the first place? Aren’t these people the ones who are responsible for the imposition of the many repressive policies that hound the students each and every unbearable day they come to school? Aren’t they the ones who enforce anti-student rules with unrelenting determination under supposedly moral justifications that only serve to oppress the student masses further?

Who is unchristian then?

Freedom opPRESSed

Freedom is a word romanticized by many. People across times have bled and died just to get a glimpse of the promise of that freedom, freedom from tyrannical rule of colonizers, of the state, and even of the Church.

But how do we situate freedom in an era where the world can be accessed at the touch of our fingertips, or in a time where instameals far exceed traditional cooking in patronage or where wondrous technology enables us to acquire sanitary napkins (with wings) out of comfort room vending machines? Is there still freedom left to fight for when conflicts can just be resolved through money settlements and venial sins forgiven in rites of general absolution? Is there still a need to fight against poverty and oppression when holy priests preach, “Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of God”? Shouldn’t we even be grateful to be poor and deprived?

The truth is, freedom is not an abstract concept written in the wind. It is a concrete experience of having our basic rights respected rather than being just a cliché. And even if the world is seemingly free of the geographical and technological barriers that impeded progress then, the world itself is still very much in bondage and freedom is still a battle cry of oppressed peoples and nations.

In the same way, despite the illusion of freedom we are made to believe to have in the university, there is much repression going on.

Campus press freedom might as well be a myth as heretical writers continue to be persecuted by the overpowering Inquisition in this institution. The so-called academic freedom has many times been made an excuse to further single out these dissenters, and if possible, shut them up for good. After all, allowing these heretics to go loosely will only prove detrimental to the image of a university with a reputable name. So what if the students are restrained? At least they can still wear a uniform reeking of pride for an educational system that is commercialized, colonial and repressive.

Absolutely absolute

“No freedom is absolute.”

Maybe the SAS Inquisition has a point, a world as dynamic as this has no room for such simplistic absolutism. But as practice shows, no one is going beyond the bounds of the freedom due to us but the Inquisition itself. So we hurl the same statement back at them: NO FREEDOM IS ABSOLUTE. They have to realize that they do not have the absolute freedom to run our lives the way they capriciously wish.

And with that, campus heretics might still be hounded by the Inquisition, might be suspended, and even expelled, but for as long as injustice runs rampant in this educational system, more heretics will always surface from the ranks of the oppressed. And until the Inquisition realizes that it has become obsolete, its terrorist practices in trying to make these heretics confess and repent of their wicked ways will always be futile because the problem does not lie in the growing number of heretics but in the establishment itself. And these heresies serve only as a critique to an unchristian system with the hope of achieving meaningful change that would give freedom a new face.

Maybe heresy is not so bad after all.

References:
Grolier Interactive Encyclopedia
Encarta Encyclopedia

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