Talk:Heretic's Brand/@comment-24.247.158.94-20130829201123/@comment-5607198-20130901020019

this was never common. it doesnt exist (in western culture at least).

You might be thinking of criminal branding, which did exist, but that was only to warn the populace of a criminal's misdeeds, not to make them a non-person. That was called being "outlawed". It is entirely possible to have a branded criminal become so much a problem (refusing to reform and becoming a greater threat) become an outlaw, but the two weren't related.

Now, I will agree with you that a permanent mark informing strangers of your sins is wrong TODAY but morality and necessity are things that change with the times. We of course can view the practice as wrong, but in that time, when all a man needed to do was move someplace new and take advantage of those who don't know him for an unwholesome sort, maybe it isn't so wrong. certainly some people will have suffered unjustly, but that's just life.