Witch Hunts, Belief, and the Fragile Convictions of Humanity

The Salem Witch Trials: Fear Turned Into Fire

The Salem witch trials of 1692–1693 remain one of the most infamous examples of fear shaping justice. More than 200 were accused, 19 executed, and one man was pressed to death—all because a community convinced itself that the Devil had entered their village.

But here is the paradox: in order to accuse someone of serving the Devil, you must first believe in the Devil. The Puritans carried with them a worldview formed by the Bible, and within that worldview, the Devil was not a myth but an enemy. Strange behavior, sickness, or defiance could be explained not as human complexity but as Satan’s work. Without that belief system, Salem might have judged eccentricity as illness or spirituality as diversity. Instead, fear fueled persecution.

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Witch Hunts Across the World

The Salem trials were not unique. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Europe witnessed the deaths of 40,000–60,000 alleged witches. The Malleus Maleficarum (1487), a handbook on identifying and prosecuting witches, turned suspicion into systematic violence.

Yet outside of Abrahamic traditions, witches were not seen as servants of evil. In Africa, Asia, and Indigenous traditions, shamans, healers, and priests carried wisdom rather than curses. To the Greeks, the Magi were philosophers and holy men. To the Druids, wisdom keepers were guardians of the natural order.

Only under the Christian and Islamic frameworks did witches become traitors to God, for only in those traditions did Satan exist as an enemy of the divine. Everywhere else, magic was another language of the sacred.

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The Devil Is Born in Belief

To worship the Devil, you must first be taught of one. This is not universal. In Hinduism, Taoism, or Norse myth, there is no Satan, no single ruler of evil. Chaos and balance exist, but not in the personified way the Bible depicts.

The idea of the Devil shaped history by creating a powerful psychological tool: fear of betrayal against God. It turned healers into heretics, priests into sorcerers, and neighbors into enemies.

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Faith and Violence: Atrocities in God’s Name

Many say the world suffers because people no longer believe in God. But history shows us something more painful: some of humanity’s worst atrocities were committed in His name.

• The Crusades slaughtered entire cities “for God.”
• The Inquisition burned those who questioned authority.
• Salem hanged its women to “protect the community.”

Belief is not the safeguard of morality. Human responsibility is. When faith is corrupted into power, it stops being devotion and becomes domination.

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Saul and the Witch of Endor: The Fragile Convictions of a King

In the Old Testament, King Saul outlawed mediums and witchcraft in Israel. Yet when the prophet Samuel died and Saul felt abandoned by God, he disguised himself and went to a medium in Endor (1 Samuel 28).

The woman summoned Samuel, described as an old man rising from the earth—an image resembling Sheol, the Hebrew underworld, far closer to Greek Hades than Christian Heaven. Samuel’s spirit rebuked Saul and prophesied his downfall.

Here lies the irony: Saul destroyed what he later sought. In desperation, even a king bends his own laws. Belief makes us bold when convenient, but fragile when fear arrives.

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A Resilient Philosopher’s Reflection

The story of witch hunts—whether in Salem, Europe, or the pages of Scripture—reminds us of this truth:

• Fear creates enemies that may not exist.
• Belief, without reflection, turns into chains.
• Power justified by God is often more human than divine.

To believe in the Devil, you must first be taught to. To condemn witches, you must first decide that wisdom is dangerous. To kill in God’s name, you must first forget that humanity is sacred.

Leadership, like faith, is not measured in belief but in responsibility. We are called not to dominate but to serve, not to fear but to understand, not to scapegoat but to grow.

When fear governs faith, witch hunts rise. When responsibility governs leadership, resilience is born.

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The Modern Question: A Nationalist Christian Nation?

What will happen if America becomes a nationalist Christian nation?

If the First Amendment dies, we will lose all our rights—not rights given by God, but rights forged by people who believed in the separation of church and state. Law was written to serve all citizens, not only those of one religion.

And yet, even within Christianity, there is deep division. Thousands of denominations, conflicting doctrines, and rival interpretations—if Christianity cannot unite itself, how can it unite a nation?

The founders understood this. That is why they separated church from state. Not to erase God, but to protect people from tyranny done in His name. If we forget that, we risk repeating Salem on a national scale.