The historic crusades against Islam have always been and continue to be demonized and distorted in ways designed to exonerate jihadi terror.
“Unless we get on our high horse,” Barak Obama chided Americans in 2015 for being overly critical of Islamic State atrocities, “and think this [beheadings, sex-slavery, crucifixion, roasting humans] is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”
Others, primarily academics and self-professed “experts,” insist that the crusades are one of the main reasons modern day Muslims are still angry. In the now notorious words of Georgetown University professor, John Esposito,
Five centuries of peaceful coexistence [between Islam and Christendom] elapsed before political events and an imperial-papal power play led to [a] centuries-long series of so-called holy wars that pitted Christendom against Islam and left an enduring legacy of misunderstanding and distrust.
Nor is this characterization limited to abstract theorizing; it continues to have a profound impact on the psyche of Westerners everywhere. Thus in 1999 and to mark the nine hundredth anniversary of the crusader conquest of Jerusalem, hundreds of devout Protestants participated in a so-called “reconciliation walk” that began in Germany and ended in Jerusalem. Along the way they wore T-shirts bearing the message “I apologize” in Arabic. Their official statement follows:
Nine hundred years ago, our forefathers carried the name of Jesus Christ in battle across the Middle East. Fueled by fear, greed and hatred… the Crusaders lifted the banner of the Cross above your people… On the anniversary of the first Crusade, we … wish to retrace the footsteps of the Crusaders in apology for their deeds ... We deeply regret the atrocities committed in the name of Christ by our predecessors. We renounce greed, hatred and fear, and condemn all violence done in the name of Jesus Christ.
The great irony of the mainstream condemnation of the historic crusades is that, when the crusades themselves are seriously examined—what they were, what inspired and justified them, who was permitted to participate, etc.—and then contrasted with the historic jihad, not only are the crusades completely vindicated; the entire indictment of the West for its supposed wrongs against Islam—past *and *present—collapses.
If this sounds outrageous, consider the following five key differences.
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