You would also find that when the witch craze swept Europe in the 17th century, civil authorities were more likely to condemn people as witches then ecclesiastical authorites (Protestant or Catholic) and that those parts of Europe that were by far the least touched my the mania were those with an active Catholic Ecclestiastical court - Inquisition - because those courts required a far higher degree of evidence of guilt than other courts in Europe and were far less swayed by Emotion.
Obviously I'm not suggesting that the Church was perfect - it's made up of people, after all. However, it's judicial system was a lot fairer and more humane than the actual alternatives at the time.
Why bother trying to explain that to RKV?
Liberal atheists like him always have to go back several centuries to back their claims, the buggery notwithstanding. These people have an axe to gring (guilt) and they're going to grind it no matter what.