Religious cleansing

Religious cleansing is a euphemism for a form of religious persecution in which members of a religious population are subjected to imprisonment, expulsion, forced conversion 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 Albigensian Crusade, Spanish Inquisition and the Edict of Fontainebleau, among others.

See also

• Cultural cleansing
• Religious violence