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.