The Spanish Inquisition was mainly political and economic domination in religious guise.

Evidence

The Spanish Empire was built on a Catholic Christian identity, which served as an ideological means to overcome regional differences. In 1483 Isabella and Ferdinand established the Inquisition under their control, with Rome’s permission. While the Catholic monarchs were undoubtedly devout Catholics, religious zeal alone does not explain their actions. Rather, as historian J. H. Elliot argues, the “establishment of the Inquisition throughout Spain had obvious political advantages, in that it helped to further the cause of Spanish unity by deepening the sense of common purpose.” For the monarchy, the Inquisition was a means to bring together the new empire of Spain consisting of a wide variety of people—Castilians, Aragonians, and others—in a collective mission under the banner of religion. Spanish nationhood was premised on a common Christian identity. In addition to this, the Inquisition became a means by which to regulate competition over jobs and resources between various ethnic groups in the name of religious orthodoxy. The Inquisition was a product of political and economic interests couched in a religious idiom. In this context, Muslims and Jews became inassimilable others. Conversion was no longer available as a means to escape systematic discrimination. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 117

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ article’s theme of moral/religious panics as class and identity signaling. — connects to: The Spanish Inquisition served political unification rather than religious zeal; The Spanish Inquisition was economic control, and Ottomans sheltered its Jewish refugees — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 353; The Inquisition’s bureaucracy-created financial needs drove it to persecute Moriscos — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1120 (+7 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that conversion no longer escapes discrimination — once difference is racialized as ‘blood,’ religious assimilation stops working — is a genuine paradigm for how identity-based exclusion shifts registers.

Broader Connections

• The Spanish Inquisition served political unification rather than religious zeal #corroborates (0.97)
• The Inquisition chiefly served political power struggles, not religious goals. #corroborates (0.95) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1184
• The Spanish Inquisition was economic control, and Ottomans sheltered its Jewish refugees #expands (0.88) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 353
• The Inquisition’s bureaucracy-created financial needs drove it to persecute Moriscos #corroborates (0.82) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1120
• The Inquisition’s budget needs made it economically dependent on imposing vexatious cases #corroborates (0.82)
• Aragonese saw the Inquisition as a Crown tool against regional identity. #exemplifies (0.75)
• Economic determination can assign dominance to politics or religion in an epoch #expands (0.72) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 493
• The Inquisition disarmed Moriscos due to their noble patrons’ politics, not their own acts #expands (0.72) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1186
• Mode of production can assign dominance to politics or religion in different epochs #expands (0.72)
• The Spanish Inquisition’s interrogations prefigured modern racial profiling by reconstructing life histories #complicates (0.72) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 95