Just to be the voice of dissent, I highly suspect that every evil thing you mentioned could have happened without religion. For example:
1. Getting rid of the Jews and Muslims probably had less to do with their religion than it did with a kind of cultural cleansing. In fact, the Catholic Church (at least if we assume Catholic = the Pope), was against it. It was entirely Isbela who wanted to get rid of the group(s) of people she'd spent her entire life fighting against, or at least force them to assimilate. Though the Church worked with her, it was at least initially against the idea. (And what was the alternative? She controlled Spain pretty completely. Incidentally, her husband, Ferdinand, also disagreed with the Inquisition. But she was a lot more powerful than he was, so...)
2. Witch hunts seem to be predominantly against elder widows as they tend to have money and be in a socially fragile position. They almost certainly have to do less with religion and more with economics. (i.e. if I kill Aunt Irene, I get to take her stuff. Nice.) Incidentally, if we judge by modern witch hunts, they also tend to happen with the family members of Aunt so and so are in a precarious position. (i.e. either I declare Aunt Irene a witch and have her burnt, or my kids starve.)
This isn't to say that religion is good. But humans are very, very capable of being evil without religion added to the mix. (Or at least they're very capable of being self serving.)
no subject
1. Getting rid of the Jews and Muslims probably had less to do with their religion than it did with a kind of cultural cleansing. In fact, the Catholic Church (at least if we assume Catholic = the Pope), was against it. It was entirely Isbela who wanted to get rid of the group(s) of people she'd spent her entire life fighting against, or at least force them to assimilate. Though the Church worked with her, it was at least initially against the idea. (And what was the alternative? She controlled Spain pretty completely. Incidentally, her husband, Ferdinand, also disagreed with the Inquisition. But she was a lot more powerful than he was, so...)
2. Witch hunts seem to be predominantly against elder widows as they tend to have money and be in a socially fragile position. They almost certainly have to do less with religion and more with economics. (i.e. if I kill Aunt Irene, I get to take her stuff. Nice.) Incidentally, if we judge by modern witch hunts, they also tend to happen with the family members of Aunt so and so are in a precarious position. (i.e. either I declare Aunt Irene a witch and have her burnt, or my kids starve.)
This isn't to say that religion is good. But humans are very, very capable of being evil without religion added to the mix. (Or at least they're very capable of being self serving.)