Monday, March 20, 2006

Vatican Attempts To Rehabilitate Its Crusader Image


In a pathetic attempt to mask their bloody history the church seeks to sell a kind gentle version of violent crusaders. The crusaders were motivated by greed not faith and the popes who sent them to the holy land were motivated by a desire for power over new territory. The various popes including Urban II were also motivated by a desire to prevent violent feuding "christian" nobles from turning europe into an endless war zone, encouraging them to fight muslims instead of each other. The crusaders were seduced by false calls to glory as well as the possibility of gaining great wealth, land and markets. Made up of European soldiers and peasants, they managed to slaughter many muslims as well as jews who happened to be in the cities that they marched from along the way to Jerusalem. Consider the scene in this film, Richard the Lionhearted (Henry Wilcoxon): "I fight for the Cross." Saladin (Ian Keith): "No. You wear the Cross of one who gave his life in this very land that men might be at peace. But you have no faith in this Cross." —From Cecil B. DeMille's historical spectacle, THE CRUSADES (1935). DragonSlayerWanted

Vatican change of heart over 'barbaric' Crusades

From Richard Owen in Rome

The Vatican has begun moves to rehabilitate the Crusaders by sponsoring a conference at the weekend that portrays the Crusades as wars fought with the “noble aim” of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity. The Crusades are seen by many Muslims as acts of violence that have underpinned Western aggression towards the Arab world ever since. Followers of Osama bin Laden claim to be taking part in a latter-day “jihad against the Jews and Crusaders”. The late Pope John Paul II sought to achieve Muslim- Christian reconciliation by asking “pardon” for the Crusades during the 2000 Millennium celebrations. But John Paul’s apologies for the past “errors of the Church” — including the Inquisition and anti-Semitism — irritated some Vatican conservatives. According to Vatican insiders, the dissenters included Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict reached out to Muslims and Jews after his election and called for dialogue. However, the Pope, who is due to visit Turkey in November, has in the past suggested that Turkey’s Muslim culture is at variance with Europe’s Christian roots. At the conference, held at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University, Roberto De Mattei, an Italian historian, recalled that the Crusades were “a response to the Muslim invasion of Christian lands and the Muslim devastation of the Holy Places”. “The debate has been reopened,” La Stampa said. Professor De Mattei noted that the desecration of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by Muslim forces in 1009 had helped to provoke the First Crusade at the end of the 11th century, called by Pope Urban II. He said that the Crusaders were “martyrs” who had “sacrificed their lives for the faith”. He was backed by Jonathan Riley-Smith, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge University, who said that those who sought forgiveness for the Crusades “do not know their history”. Professor Riley-Smith has attacked Sir Ridley Scott’s recent film Kingdom of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom, as “utter nonsense”. Professor Riley-Smith said that the script, like much writing on the Crusades, was “historically inaccurate. It depicts the Muslims as civilised and the Crusaders as barbarians. It has nothing to do with reality.” It fuels Islamic fundamentalism by propagating “Osama bin Laden’s version of history”. He said that the Crusaders were sometimes undisciplined and capable of acts of great cruelty. But the same was true of Muslims and of troops in “all ideological wars”. Some of the Crusaders’ worst excesses were against Orthodox Christians or heretics — as in the sack of Constantinople in 1204. The American writer Robert Spencer, author of A Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, told the conference that the mistaken view had taken hold in the West as well as the Arab world that the Crusades were “an unprovoked attack by Europe on the Islamic world”. In reality, however, Christians had been persecuted after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.

The London Times

1 Comments:

Blogger hope2endure said...

celtic templar, I do not deny that Islam has also sought power through the sword. That does not negate the fact that Christendom has conducted vicious crusades in the name of Christ for profit and greed. Every since Christianity merged with the Roman political state in the 4th century, they have failed to comply with Jesus command to "lay down your sword". He stated "Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword. Matthew 26:52. Christendom has been just as violent if not more so than Islam. Notice I say Christendom, not genuine Christianity.

With your study of the bible and secular history what can you point to that justifies Christendom's misrepresentation of Christianity and the blood stained crusades?

3:36 PM  

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