Religious cleansing is a euphemism for a form of religious persecution in which members of a religious population are subjected to imprisonment, expulsion, or death by a majority to achieve religious homogeneity in majority-controlled territory. While akin to ethnic cleansing (a better-known form of discrimination throughout human history) religious cleansing is less defined by a group's ancestry and more defined by that religious group's spiritual allegiance of interest. Such cleansing is often precipitated by the declaration of a religion or creed as illegal and outlawed, as in the case of the Spanish Inquisition and the Edict of Fontainebleau.
Famous quotes containing the words religious and/or cleansing:
“Each religious sect has its own physiognomy. The Methodists have acquired a face; the Quakers, a face; the nuns, a face. An Englishman will pick out a dissenter by his manners.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“This is not a psychotic episode. This is a cleansing moment of clarity.”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)