My family is Jewish. It was a tough time to be a non-Christian. They came to America to escape the Czar and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Those pictures tell you why the founding fathers wanted a separation of church and state. However, we in the UK always have had an established church. The main difference between now and back then is that the church is subject to the crown, which in turn is subject to the will of parliament.

There has yet to be a theocracy that wasn't cruel.

This is more painful than my divorce.

For the sake of precision most of those "medieval" tortures were made up in the illuminist era as a way to deny medieval values.
There were tortures, prisons and executions, but they were a lot more simple and not different from what modern armies (including USA) use today.

Reminds me of the witch burning scene in Monty Python And The Holy Grail...

Girolamo Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola.jpg
Girolamo Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo, c. 1498, Museo di San Marco, Florence.
De facto Ruler of Florence
Reign November 1494 – 23 May 1498

Girolamo Savonarola (UK: /ˌsævɒnəˈroʊlə/, US: /ˌsævən-, səˌvɒn-/,[2][3][4] Italian: [dʒiˈrɔːlamo savonaˈrɔːla]; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of secular art and culture, and his calls for Christian renewal. He denounced clerical corruption, despotic rule and the exploitation of the poor. He prophesied the coming of a biblical flood and a new Cyrus from the north who would reform the Church.Buoyed by liberation and prophetic promise, the Florentines embraced Savonarola's campaign to rid the city of "vice". At his repeated insistence, new laws were passed against "sodomy" (which included male and female same-sex relations), adultery, public drunkenness, and other moral transgressions, while his lieutenant Fra Silvestro Maruffi organised boys and young men to patrol the streets to curb immodest dress and behaviour.

This only partially covers what his monks did while in control of Florence. His ideas extended to all manners of living and total control of the citizenry. Religion at its best...lol.

I have never heard of a church state that wasn't dictatorial and brutal.

Ah yes, the old " Believe or Suffer" rhetoric of Religions and even when you believe they still make you suffer.

They were so brutal ! I truly believe all the narcissists and Sociopaths were and probably still are in control of the church!

What is this church you speak of? United States of America is the secret religion of the Masonic lodge secret religion racist devil worshippers.

A scary thought indeed!!

Oh the arrogance and immorality of those backed by divine power.

Power corrupts