The "Notorious" Malleus Maleficarum

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Since I recently did a discussion about the modern day witch burning in India that was in the news...it got me to thinking about mankinds' fears about witchcraft in general...Now from what I understand "witch hunts" are still alive and well in India, Africa and many Asian countries despite this being the 21st century. But peoples fears about witchcraft isn't limited of course to these areas of the world ... even in highly developed countries and nations there still are fears. Can it be that these fears are still stemmed from the most infamous book written of all time? The Malleus Maleficarum or "The Witches Hammer" was written in 1496 and was in effect a "guideline" in how to distinguish a witch and listed a variety of barbaric tortures to test a witch...if the person "passed" they weren't a witch..but of course some of these tests were so brutal that the person died as a result. There's a few excellent links about this "notorious" book... http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum I do want to place a few quotes from the first link .... "While the Malleus itself cannot be blamed for the Inquisition or the horrors inflicted upon mankind by the Inquisitors, it certainly played an important role. Thus has it been said that The Malleus Maleficarum is one of the most blood-soaked works in human history, in that its very existence reinforced and validated Catholic beliefs which led to the prosecution, torture, and murder, of tens of thousands of innocent people. It served as a guidebook for Inquisitors during the Inquisition, and was designed to aid them in the identification, prosecution, and dispatching of Witches. It set forth, as well, many of the modern misconceptions and fears concerning witches and the influence of witchcraft. The questions, definitions, and accusations it set forth in regard to witches, which were reinforced by its use during the Inquisition, came to be widely regarded as irrefutable truth. Those beliefs are held even today by a majority of Christians in regard to practitioners of the modern “revived” religion of Witchcraft, or Wicca. And while the Malleus itself is largely unknown in modern times, its effects have proved long lasting."I found that last line to be particularly interesting... So is it possible, that the influence of this book is felt even now, and why people still fear those who follow the wicca/pagan path of life...why people still fear witchcraft in general?