Modern trashing of the Crusades, Christianity, and Western civilization

We began Part I with President Obama’s description of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) as a distorted and deviant form of Islam. But he immediately suggests a moral equivalency of Christianity with ISIL, slavery in America, and past racism in the South.[1] But the President’s denigration of Christianity and the Crusades are not a new phenomenon.

The historical explanations of how and why the first Crusade began have been perverted by historians, academia, liberal politicians, and others hostile to Christianity for three hundred years. Their new interpretation is much more sinister and contemptuous. This cynical view of the Crusades has been widely disseminated by the progressive education movement in America which wrested education from the influence of the church in the late 1800s. The progressive educational establishment is a bitter enemy of the biblical worldview and much of Western civilization in general. The tenets of progressive education stem from the Enlightenment and its humanistic influence. Therefore, the Crusades have become a convenient tit-for-tat when defending Islam and denigrating Christianity through claims of moral equivalency.

Typical of the charges against the Crusades are that they are the cause of modern Muslim bitterness and Islamic fury at their mistreatment by the Christian Crusaders. The Crusaders were motivated by lands, spoils, and power, not piety and safety of Christian pilgrims going to the Holy Land. Crusaders were barbarians that attacked, brutalized, and destroyed “the enlightened Muslim culture.” Even the New York Times compared the Crusades to Hitler’s atrocities. Others charge that the Crusades were “…an expression of Catholic bigotry and cruelty.” These recurrent themes flow from the halls of academia, media, liberal politicians, and an assortment of humanist intellectuals, and their stanzas have been condensed to a single chorus by Rodney Stark, “…during the Crusades, an expansionist, imperialistic Christendom brutalized, looted, and colonized a tolerant and peaceful Islam.”[2]

Although time does not allow a point by point refutation of the charges against Christianity and the Crusades, the remainder of this article summarizes and overwhelmingly exposes the absurd claims of the cultural and moral equivalency between Christianity and Islam.

Comparison of the tenets of Christian and Islamic Faiths

When one compares the tenets of Islam with those of Christianity, the two religions are worlds apart in their treatment of humanity. Islam is a militant theocracy with a stated purpose of subduing the entire world under an Islamic caliphate. But Christians obedient to the Bible cannot compel conversion nor punish those who do not convert as do the faithful followers of Islam. Numerous verses in the Quran speak of the subjugation or killing of non-Muslims. Perhaps the most telling difference between the tenets of Christianity and Islam is their respective records of persecution. Forty-one of the top fifty countries with the worst records for persecution are headed by Muslim governments substantially ruled or heavily influenced by Islamic theocracies. When one compares the tenets and the resultant actions of the faithful followers of the Qur’an compared to the faithful followers of Christ and the Bible, the superiority of the Christian faith is irrefutable.

Geographical extent, duration, and severity of Muslim aggression as compared to the Crusades

Disregarding motive and morality, there is a remarkable disparity in time, extent, and severity of conquest and brutality when comparing Muslim and Crusader aggression. In Part III it was noted that the twelve centuries of consistent and concerted Muslim aggression over three continents far outweighs the sporadic Crusades that occurred over two centuries and confined to a relatively small area. The historical record reveals that Muslim aggression lasted a millennium longer than the Crusades. Widespread accounts from various lands invaded and conquered reveal a consistent pattern of Muslim conquest and brutality that was far more frequent and harsh than the misdeeds of various Crusaders during the five campaigns to free and protect the Holy Land.

Motives and morality of Christians and Muslims

As stated in Part III, we must first clarify that good motives do not in themselves excuse immoral actions, but an examination of motives (good and bad) can determine if moral equivalency exists between Christianity and Islam. Stated simply, the motives of Muslims faithful to the Quran are to ultimately subdue the entire world under an Islamic caliphate. But in accordance with Christ’s command, the principle motive of Christians is to share their relationship with God as they interact with humanity. Perhaps the best description of a Christian’s motivation is described in that well-known verse found in John’s gospel, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16. RSV] This message is based on freedom to choose Christianity as opposed to Muslim coercion to convert. From the perspective of morality and motive, the superiority of Christianity is undeniable when compared to Islam.

Cultural superiority of Christianity over Islam – Making a better world

Not only do history’s revisionists attempt to find moral equivalency between the Crusades and Muslim aggression, they also attempt to elevate Muslim culture in comparison with Western civilization. Arab claims of a sophisticated and superior culture are not the result of Arab development but are the results of what they learned from the cultures of their subject peoples, the dhimmi populations which included the Byzantium (Judeo-Christian-Greek cultures); Egyptian (the Copts and Nestorians), Persian (Zoroastrian), and Hindu. Most Arab science and learning was originated with and translated into Arabic by these assimilated dhimmis.[3]

Claims of a superior and advanced Muslim culture were enhanced by comparison with a supposed backwardness of Christendom as a result of the Dark Ages. Moderns often describe the Dark Ages as a time of intellectual darkness and barbarity during the five or six centuries following the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire during the fifth century.[4]

From the Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to well-known historians of the twentieth century, Western intellectuals consistently describe life in Europe during this era as a time of “…barbarism, superstition, [and] ignorance…” (Voltaire 1694-1778). Rousseau (1712-1778) stated that, “Europe had lapsed into the barbarism of the earliest ages.” Historian William Manchester (1922-2004) labeled the period as an era “…of incessant warfare, corruption, lawlessness, obsession with strange myths, and an almost impenetrable mindlessness…The Dark Ages were stark in every dimension.”[5]

Only recently has the myth of the Dark Ages been recognized. This recognition was noted in the Fifteenth Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1981). The “Dark Ages” are no longer recognized as “… a period of intellectual darkness and barbarity.” This period is now acknowledged as “…one of the great innovative eras of mankind” in which Europe’s technological advances placed it well ahead of the rest of the world.[6]

In spite of the humanists’ fiction of intellectual darkness and barbarity during Christendom’s first five centuries in Europe, the influence of those Christian refugees from fallen Rome would ultimately influence and change the world as no other people ever had. But this story is little known or acknowledged in the midst of a hostile humanistic and secular culture that has ascended within America over the last three generations. We are indebted to Alvin Schmidt for giving us a definitive and unapologetic understanding of the unparalleled importance of Christianity in the history of the world. The following is merely a brief mention of the major themes outlined in Paul Maier’s Foreword to Professor Schmidt’s book, How Christianity Changed the World.

…many of our [America’s] institutions and values reflect a Christian origin.

Not only countless individual lives but civilization itself was transformed by Jesus Christ. In the ancient world, his teaching elevated brutish standards of morality, halted infanticide, enhanced human life, emancipated women, abolished slavery, inspired charities and relief organizations, created hospitals, established orphanages, and founded schools.

In the modern era, Christian teaching, properly expressed, advanced science, instilled concepts of political and social and economic freedom, fostered justice, and provided the greatest single source of inspiration for the magnificent achievements in art, architecture, music, and literature…

No other religion, philosophy, teaching, nation, movement—whatever—has so changed the world for the better as Christianity has done.[7]

_____

The fiction of moral equivalency between Christianity and Islam has been utterly demolished by the facts as shown in these four articles. However, Christians and others who revere truth must understand that such attempts to find moral equivalency by President Obama and others is but one small battle in the much larger war of ideas and worldviews occurring between humanism and Christianity in America. It is in this battle that Christians must continually be engaged and vigilant for its outcome will determine if we, our children, and our grandchildren will live in freedom or slavery.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] President Barak Obama, “Remarks of the President at the National Prayer Breakfast,” The White House – Office of the Press Secretary, February 1, 2015. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/05/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast (accessed March 30, 2015).
[2] Rodney Stark, God’s Battalions-The Case for the Crusades, (New York: Harper One, 2009), p. 8.
[3] Ibid., pp. 56-57.
[4] Ibid., p. 65.
[5] Ibid., pp. 65-66.
[6] Ibid., P. 66
[7] Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2001, 2004), pp. 8-9.

Muslim conquests and demise of the Islamic empire

In Part I the origins and explosive growth of the Islamic empire in the seventh and eighth centuries were described. Muslim domination of its distant empires waxed and waned over the course of its twelve centuries of war on the world. In 1672, the forces of the Muslim caliph Mu-Awiyah (previously mentioned in Part II) ruling from his capital in Damascus decided to attack Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire (today known as Istanbul). Sailing from the Syrian coast, Muslim ships entered the Dardanelles and moved north through the narrow strait that connects the Mediterranean with the Marmara Sea. At the north end of the Dardanelles lay Constantinople, gateway to the Balkans from which a Muslim victory would have allowed the invaders to attack all of Europe. The defenders of Constantinople easily defeated the Muslims who were forced to cede recently conquered islands in the Aegean and pay tribute. In one of the world’s most consequential battles, all of Europe was saved from Muslim domination. This was the first major defeat of Muslim forces. Soon the Muslim hold on Spain began to ebb, and they were driven from Sicily and Southern Italy.[1] True to their mission of world domination, Muslim conquerors driven out in one area would regroup, conquer, and subjugate other lands and occasionally reconquer lands once held but lost.

For a thousand years Muslims had conquered and subjugated non-Muslims on much of three continents stretching from Spain to portions of India. Their military victories and success in eventual subjugation and establishment of Muslim cultures reinforced their unwavering belief in and allegiance to Islam. The Muslim world’s arrogant confidence rested on the power of the sword, but the sword was also expertly wielded by a short-in-stature infidel from the heart of Europe. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte struck a blow at the center of the Muslim world that eventually led to its historic collapse. The little French dictator easily conquered Egypt which quickly led to the defeat and colonization of much of the remainder of the Muslim empire by a number of European powers.[2]

Over the centuries, it was Muslim power that dictated what was to be considered right. But when Muslim power failed in the early nineteenth century, they began to imitate many Western ideas including politics, government, customs, outward appearance, and dress. Reeling from the catastrophic collapse of its empire, Muslims began to question their fidelity to the Qur’an and Sharia law. All things Muslim began to appear outdated relics of another age, and many countries such as Turkey began distancing themselves from their Muslim past. According to noted author and journalist Raymond Ibrahim, the Westernization of many countries in the former Muslim empire introduced what he called the “Christian Golden Age” during the colonial and post-colonial years of 1850-1950. Greater freedoms and reduced oppression by the Muslim majority resulted from the direct liberation and protection of Christians by the now dominate European overlords. More importantly, Ibrahim attributes the diminished subjugation and oppression of Christians to a growing Muslim rejection of their former Islamic identities, mentality, and ways of life.[3]

The Crusades

Provoked by four centuries of Muslim wars to conquer and colonize the West, the Crusades were Christian Europe’s response to Muslim plunder, rape, murder, and brutalization from one end of the known world to the other to accomplish their stated goal of world domination under an Islamic caliphate. The Crusades were a series of campaigns that occurred between 1095 and 1291 and intended to end Islam’s brutal control of the Holy Land. At the time of the first campaign, much of what once were Christian territories had been under Muslim domination for four hundred years: the Middle East, Egypt, all of North Africa, Spain, southern Italy, and the major islands of the Mediterranean.[4]

The first Crusade was prompted by a plea for help from Byzantium emperor Alexius Comnenus to Pope Urban II. The letter requested that Europe’s Roman Christians send troops to aid their Eastern Orthodox brethren in repelling the Seljak Turks (recent converts to Islam) that threatened Constantinople. The letter also described the ghastly tortures, rapes, and murders of Christians on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and desecration and destruction of Christian churches and Holy sites. Although there were many disagreements on lifestyle and cultural heritage that separated the two branches of Christianity, they stood on common ground in their opposition to the marauding Muslim aggressors.[5]

On a day in late November of 1095, Pope Urban mounted a platform in a meadow outside the city of Clermont, France, to present the Byzantium emperor’s request for assistance. The Pope gazed across the immense crowd that spread in all directions. With a powerful and expressive voice he began describing the conditions being experienced by their fellow believers at Constantinople and the persecutions of Christians on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The crowd was stirred by the Pope’s passionate words, and plans were made to set out the following year to avenge Muslim wrongs and reclaim the Holy Land.[6]

In the exuberance and excitement of the moment, many in the crowd may not have understood the difficulties and hardships that lay ahead. But many of the nobles and knights present that day were not foolish or naïve for a number had made pilgrimages to the Holy Land or had close relatives or associates that had made the journey. They knew of the difficulties, cost, perils, hardships, and bloody battles that such a venture would entail in defeating the ferocious and determined Muslim foe.[7]

The Crusades were led by heads of families at immense personal cost with little hope or expectation of material reward. For the most part, the kingdoms established and maintained by the Crusaders for two hundred years did not produce material gain. This is confirmed by the fact that the colonies required large subsidies from the Crusaders’ homelands in Europe.[8]

How can one find moral equivalency between twelve centuries of Muslim conquest and domination with the five campaigns of the Crusaders? One cannot. It is more correct to say the heinousness of twelve centuries of consistent and concerted Muslim aggression over three continents far outweighs the sporadic Crusades over two centuries and which were confined to a relatively small area. This comparison is accurate and very illuminating but still seems unsatisfactory because it fails to speak to morality.

We must first clarify that good motives do not in themselves excuse immoral actions, but an examination of motives (good and bad) can determine if moral equivalency exists. Put another way, those with bad behavior that seek moral objectives are not morally equivalent to those with bad behavior that seek self-serving objectives. Therefore, to determine moral equivalency, we must look to the motives of the Muslims and Crusaders. What were their central motives? What drove their aggression?

As with all military conflicts between peoples, the motivations for war are not all the same. Many wars are fought to gain lands, booty, power, and forced conversions. This was the undeniable motive of Muslims which rested on a militant theocracy bent on world domination. At the other end of the spectrum, motives for war may include fighting to defend one’s homeland, to attain freedom, to advance a righteous cause (e.g., end slavery and suffering), or to achieve a host of other noble objectives that may still contain a degree of selflessness. It is only in examining motives for going to war that we can comparatively judge the morality of the combatants. The execution and events of war itself must be judged separately from the motives for going to war. Even when the motives for going to war are known, the acts of war itself may often cloud those motives in retrospect. Over the centuries the true motives of the Crusaders appear to have often become clouded in in the minds of modern historians.

It is in the failures of the Crusaders’ actions, often unfairly judged by modern standards, as opposed to a right understanding the principle motives driving the Crusades that has caused widespread denigration of Christianity and Western civilization over the last three hundred years. The Crusades began as a noble and holy mission, and many of the knights leading the expeditions viewed their endeavor as such. Their goal was to liberate the Holy Land and end the suffering and death being inflicted upon their fellow Christians. The Crusaders’ actions frequently fell short of their higher purposes for going to war. In spite of these shortcomings and failures, the details of history present a compelling confirmation of the worthy motivations of most Crusaders.[9]

In Part IV, the efforts of those that use the Crusades to make Christianity the moral equivalent to Islam will be exposed as falsehoods aimed at denigrating Christianity and Western civilization. More importantly, we shall present the moral superiority of Christianity over Islam through a comparison of the contributions of each for the betterment of the world.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Rodney Stark, God’s Battalions-The Case for the Crusades, (New York: Harper One, 2009), p. 36-37.
[2] Raymond Ibrahim, Crucified Again-Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians, (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2013), p. 10.
[3] Ibid., p. 10-13.
[4] Stark, p. 9.
[5] Ibid., pp. 2-4.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid., p. 8.
[8] Ibid., p. 8.
[9] Ibid., pp. 117-118.

To judge the moral equivalency of Christianity with Islam, we must have a general understanding of Islam and what its followers profess to be truth. This understanding comes as we briefly explore the nature of Islam and its concepts, beliefs, and practices that are fundamental to the Muslim faith.

Sources of Islamic belief and law

• Qur’an – The revelations of God (Allah) to his prophet Muhammad over a twenty two year period in the seventh century.
• Sharia law – the Islamic moral code and religious law which deals with the institutions and daily life of the ummah (Muslim community).
• “Hadith” – Other words and deeds attributed to Muhammad but not found in the Qur’an.
• The rulings of the Islamic legal authorities (the “ulema”—its scholars, sheikhs, clerics, and muftis—both past and present).
• Historical texts that document jihad against Christendom over the centuries.[1]

Anti-Christian nature of the Qur’an

Islam’s ultimate authority lies in the words of Muhammad as recorded in the Qur’an,[2] purported to be revelations from Allah. The Quran (Koran) is intrinsically anti-Christian as shown by the following verses:

Christian Trinity – “They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity : for there is no god except One Allah.” [Quran 5:76]

Christ is not God – “In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of man…” [Quran 5:19]

Christians are infidels and enemies of Islam who must be subjugated – “…fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them. And seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)…[Quran 9:5] “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the people of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. [Quran 9:29]

Jews and pagans were considered by Muslims as the most hostile to Islam and least likely to convert. However, Christians are supposed to have a greater affinity for the message of Islam and can be expected to convert. Therefore, defenders of Islam who claim that it is a religion of peace often point to a number of verses in the Quran that seem to be quite friendly to Christianity. [See: Quran 5:82-93]

However, such verses are misleading because of the doctrine of “abrogation” (an instance of repealing). There are many contradictory verses in the Qur’an. To handle the resulting confusion as to what the Qur’an actually meant, early Islamic jurisprudence determined that whenever contradictory verses were found, the verse from later revelations of Muhammad would abrogate or cancel out the verse from his earlier pronouncements. This is confirmed by the Qur’an itself. “None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten but We substitute something better or similar : knowest though not that Allah hath power over all things? [Quran 2:106] Synonyms for abrogate are repeal, revoke, abolish, and nullify.

The Christian friendly verses were voiced by Muhammad early in his career when he had no power. Those verses were replaced by Qur’an 9:29 (see above) and many others verses that are exceedingly hostile and intolerant to Christians and which were voiced later in his career when he had attained power.[3] In accordance with the doctrine of abrogation, the earlier Christian-friendly verses were repealed and caused to be forgotten.

Jihad

One must understand that the ultimate goal of Muslims is to conquer and subject the world to Islamic rule. Jihad is the unending Muslim holy war designed to conquer the world by converting or subjugating infidels and eliminating those that stand in their way. In the Encyclopedia of Islam, jihad is required because the “…spread of Islam by arms is a religious duty upon Muslims in general…Jihad must continue to be done until the whole world is under the rule of Islam…”[4] If there is any doubt as to the purpose of jihad in Islam, Muslim scholar, philosopher, and historian Ibn Khadum has settled the issue.

In the Muslim community, the holy war [jihad] is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force…The other religious groups did not have a universal mission…They are merely required to establish their religion among their own people…But Islam is under obligation to gain power over the nations.[5]

Jizya

In a Muslim dominated society, Jizya is tribute money required to be paid by People of the Book (Christians) “…with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.” Again, we refer to Quran 9:29 (see above) to confirm this requirement. There are also many other verses that require infidels to be despised and systematically humiliated. Ibn Kathir further illuminates the heinous meaning of the Quran.

Allah said, “until they pay the jizya,” if they do not choose to embrace Islam, “with willing submission,” that is, in defeat and subservience, “and feel themselves subdued,” that is, disgraced, humiliated, and belittled. Therefore, Muslims are not allowed to honor the dhimmis or elevate them above Muslims, for they are miserable, disgraced, and humiliated.[6]

From the very earliest years following Muhammad’s death, the particulars of how Christians were to be made to feel themselves subdued were spelled out in precise detail in a document called The Conditions of Omar (Omar bin al-Khattab who reigned from 634-644). These conditions and restrictions were intended to humiliate and degrade Christians in every aspect of their lives life under Muslim rule including religion, business, housing, public demeanor, speech, dress, and deference to Muslims.[7]

Caliphate

Under Islamic rule there is no separation of church and state. The Caliphate is a unified government that rules the ummah, which is the entire Muslim community. As Allah is the only lawgiver, there is no legislature, and Muslims consider the caliphate as the highest type of political organization. Where human governments rule in the Muslim world, they only exist to enforce Allah’s law. From the very beginning of Islamic rule by caliphs, each would choose a location in which to base his empire. Prior Sunni caliphates ruled from Damascus, Baghdad, and Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire was the last Sunni caliphate and was ruled for 500 years by Ottoman sultans. The Turkish Grand National Assembly abolished the caliphate in 1924.[8]

Caliph (Imam)

Allah’s vicegerent on earth is the Caliph or supreme leader that governs the Muslim community. He is charged with administering and enforcing Sharia law by rendering “righteous judgement” between men. One of the puzzlements of non-Muslims is the reason for the incessant fighting between Muslims sects. Muhammad died in 632 but did not leave instructions as to selection of his successor. The Sunnis believe that any believer in Allah was eligible to fill the office of Caliph. The Shias believed that the Imams (their word for Caliph) must come from Muhammad’s bloodline. Following Muhammad’s death the first three caliphs were Sunnis but severely criticized as being wealthy tyrants. The fourth caliph was Ali, a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, considered to be the first caliph eligible to fill the office because he was of the prophet’s bloodline. Ali was murdered and replaced by a Mu-Awiyah, a Sunni caliph who set up his capital in Damascus. This was the beginning of the schism in Islam that is as intense today as it was at its beginning in the seventh century.[9] About ninety percent of the world’s one billion plus Muslims are Sunnis, and the remainder is Shiites[10] who reside mostly in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon.

In Part III we shall examine the growth and subsequent decline of the Muslim empire and Christendom’s response in the Middle Ages. Following that, we shall examine the modern misinterpretation of Muslim history and culture as well as the distortion of Christian history and the Crusades.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Raymond Ibrahim, Crucified Again-Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians, (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2013), p. 18.
[2] All quotations from the Quran are from the textless edition of the English translation of the Holy Qur-an: A. Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Illustrious Qur-an, Published by: Dar AHYA Us-Sunnah, Al Nabawiya.
[3] Ibrahim, p. 19.
[4] Ibid., p. 21.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid., pp. 22-23.
[7] Ibid., pp. 24-25.
[8] Jay Sekulow, “The Rise of ISIS & The New Caliphate,” The City, Volume VII, Number 3, Winter 2015, 22-24.
[9] Sekulow, 22-24.; J. M. Roberts, The New History of the World, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 329, 333.
[10] “Compare Sunni and Shia Muslims,” Religions Facts.
http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/comparison_charts/islamic_sects.htm (accessed March 31, 2015).