What do you think about the Crusades?

Question

This is a bit from Eddie Izzard that I find absolutely hilarious and thought provoking

Yes, and the Crusades were, "We kill you in the name of Jesus!"
"Wait, we have Jesus too! He's a prophet in our religion! We kill you in the name of Jesus!"
"Do you? Well, we kill you for your dark skin, for Jesus was a white man from Oxford!"
"No, he wasn't! He was from Judea! Dark-skinned man, such as we!"
"Look, it's just we've come all this way. Would you mind awfully if we hacked you to bits? Just for the press back home."
What are your opinions?

Answer 1

Thanks!! You made me laugh. The Crusades are the perfect example of people reading the Bible but missing the whole point. It was going on for centuries before, and goes on still, and will be going on for centuries to come. People only focus on what is said, not why or under what circumstances or (and this most of all) in what context. They read the Bible without studying, and doing so reveal their foolishness, and unfortunately many things end up being done in God's name that He has no part of and the whole Body suffers because of the foolishness of a few and more souls are lost forever. Could there ever be a being more foolish than man?

Answer 2

Please, could we stop with this nonsense about the Crusades being a "defensive war" and the idea that "there wouldn't have been a Christian left" if the Crusades hadn't happened. What nonsense. Christians lived side by side with Muslims not only in Jerusalem but also in Muslim Spain, for hundreds of years. If the aim of Muslims was to kill or convert all Christians, surely a couple hundred years would have been enough time for them to do so if they had wanted to? But in Islam(I've said it before and will be happy to repeat it again and again) THERE IS NO COMPULSION IN RELIGION!!!(For the stubborn and the simple minded: this means that you cannot force, or coerce, someone to accept Islam. Not a pagan, and most certainly not a fellow monotheist)
And if the aim of the Crusades was to liberate poor suffering Christians, why did the Crusaders slaughter without mercy Greek and Armenian Christians and shamelessly loot their churches?

Answer 3

LOL!

I laughed so hard when I read TNT's response about 'many Protestants dying on both sides"

LMAO!!

There wasn't any Protestants during the Crusades!

In regards to this Izzy guys perception of Crusades...looks like he needs to learn about the Crusades.

One very basic thing about the Crusades is this: There was no real distinction of nations; there was unity due to faith. The Muslims were invading countries of Christian origin, culture, faith. If it was not for the Crusade--well, at least the first one; there honestly would not be a Christian among us. We'd all be Muslim. So before you start denigrating the Catholics; please understand history--if you did you'd understand why this guy's idea of a joke is really lopsided--though--I actually did sort of think it funny but the humor was short lived because of the the inaccuracy.

Many blessings to you sweetie. Keep 'em coming!

Answer 4

>>What do you think about the Crusades?<<

They were defensive wars. By the time of the first Crusade, the Muslims had conquered two-thirds of the old Christian world. Without the Crusades, Christianity would be virtually extinct and Islam would have taken over the world.
http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2006a/022406/022406a.php

Answer 5

Err,

The Crusades were launched by pope Urban as a means to two ends, firstly reclaiming Jerusalem to the Romans, and secondly - more importantly - doing away with eastern orthodoxy, which had only recently been created. Compare the dates of th greeat schism with the dates of the fist crusade. Its not coincidence.

Answer 6

...The Crusades happened hundreds of years ago - isn't it about time that those who hide behind them should give it up, and deal with their own issues? Why won't these people look at and deal with today? Very practically, what can anyone do to change what happened hundreds of years ago?
...Where in the world are Christians persecuting others today? Answer - NOWHERE.
...There are not blowing themselves up nor are they beheading people - and quite honestly, why is there very little outcry, especially in certain groups, for this kind of behavior? Christians are not seeking to kill and/or maim as many as possible, either.
...We need to live in the now, instead of hiding behind history that did not affect them personally.
...It is said you have to be smaller than something, in order to hide behind it.

Answer 7

The Crusades are a prime example of the violent history of Christianity.

Hay there, Christian. Why the thumb down? Flunk history?

Answer 8

thats the crusades but saladin did let the christians so thay can come home and he did beat richard the lion heart as well

Answer 9

lol.

The crusades were a demonstration of Christian savagery. Muslims were at the time more tolerant and advanced (the two seem to correlate).

Answer 10

It was a complete waste of time performed by complete idiots. Isn't religion a wonderful thing. Baaaaaaa.