Christian Apology For The Crusades

Christian apology for the Crusades:
The Reconciliation Walk
"But when have Christians demonstrated this love to Muslims or Jews? We have
gone to them with swords and guns. We have gone to them with racism and
hatred. We have gone to them with feelings of cultural superiority and
economic domination. We have gone to them with colonialism and
exploitation. We have even gone to them with the Gospel cloaked in
arguments of superiority. Only a few have ever gone with the message of
Calvary...We must do more than carry the message, we must be the message."
Reconciliation Walk
About the Crusades and their legacy of hatred:
The mid 7th century to the mid 10th century CE saw the gradual expansion of
Islam. Half of the Christian world was conquered by Arab armies; this included
countries in which Christianity had been established for centuries, such as
Egypt, southern France, southern Italy, Sicily, Spain, Syria, Turkey, etc. 4
By the late 10th century, Europe and the Middle East were divided into Christian
and Muslim spheres of influence. Christian pilgrims from Europe regularly
visited Muslim-controlled Jerusalem in reasonable safety. Such pilgrimages
were very popular. The were believed to be one of the major acts by which a
person could reduce their exposure to the tortures of purgatory after their
death.
By the middle of the 11th century, Christianity had formally split between the
Roman Catholic Church and the Byzantine Empire: The Emperor/Bishop of
Constantinople and the Bishop of Rome had mutually excommunicated each
other. In 1071, the Turks defeated the latter at the Battle of Manzikert. This
left Constantinople exposed to attack from Muslims. Meanwhile, Christians
were being ambushed during their pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
Emperor Alexius asked Pope Urban II for assistance. On 1095-NOV-27, the Pope
called on Europeans to go on a crusade to liberate Jerusalem from its Muslim
rulers. "The first and second wave of Crusaders murdered, raped and
plundered their way up the Rhine and down the Danube as they headed for
Jerusalem." 1 The "army" was primarily composed of untrained peasants with
their families, with a core of trained soldiers. On the way to the Middle East,
they decided that only one of their goals was to wrest control of Jerusalem
from the Muslims. A secondary task was to rid the world of as many non-
Christians as possible - both Muslims and Jews. The Crusaders gave the Jews
two choices in their slogan: "Christ-killers, embrace the Cross or die!" 12,000
Jews in the Rhine Valley alone were killed as the first Crusade passed through.
Some Jewish writers refer to these events as the "first holocaust." Once the
army reached Jerusalem and broke through the city walls, they slaughtered all
the inhabitants that they could find (men, women, children, newborns). After
locating about 6,000 Jews holed up in the synagogue, they set the building on
fire; the Jews were burned alive. The Crusaders found that about 30,000
Muslims had fled to the al Aqsa Mosque. The Muslim were also slaughtered
without mercy.
The Roman Catholic church taught that going to war against the "Infidels" was
an act of Christian penance. If a believer was killed during a crusade, he would
bypass purgatory, and be taken directly to heaven. By eliminating what might
be many millennia of torture in Purgatory, many Christians were strongly
motivated to volunteer for the crusades. "After pronouncing a solemn vow,
each warrior received a cross from the hands of the pope or his legates, and
was thenceforth considered a soldier of the Church." 3
These mass killings were repeated during each of the 8 additional crusades
until the final, 9th, crusade in 1272 CE. Both Christians and Muslims believed
that they were fighting on God's side against Satan; they believed that if they
died on the battlefield they would be given preferential treatment in the
Christian Heaven or the Muslim Paradise. Battles were fought with a terrible
fierceness and a massive loss of life. Over a 200 year period, perhaps 200,000
people were killed. The Muslim warrior Salah a-Din subsequently recaptured
Jerusalem from the Christians.
By the end of the crusades, most European Christians believed the unfounded
blood-libel myths -- the rumor that Jews engaged in human sacrifice of
Christian children. A long series of Christian persecutions of the Jews continued
in Europe and Russia into the 20th century. They laid the foundation for the
Nazi Holocaust.
The result of centuries of conflict among followers of the three main

Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) was a "deep mutual
hatred" and mistrust among the three faiths. Memories of these genocides still
influence relationships among Jews, Christians and Muslims to the present
time.
Among many Jews and Muslims, the term crusade evokes visions of genocide,
mass murder, and mass extermination of innocent people. However, among
many Christians it has become a positive term, frequently used to refer to mass
rallies and campaigns to win converts - as in the Billy Graham Crusades. Out of
respect for the victims of the "first holocaust," we recommend that the term
be only used to refer to the wars of the Middle Ages.
The Reconciliation Walk:
"The Reconciliation Walk is an interdenominational grassroots movement of

Western Christians,...retracing the route of the First Crusade, apologizing to
Muslims, Jews and Eastern Christians for the atrocities of the Crusades --
foremost among them, the misuse of the name and message of Jesus."
The organizers of the Reconciliation Walk are unaware of any previous, "
serious effort to repair this damage" caused by the crusades. The first
crusaders set off for Jerusalem in 1096-APR, from the cathedral in Cologne.
Exactly 900 years later, on Easter Sunday, about 150 walkers departed from the
same cathedral. Their first stop was a Turkish Mosque and teaching center.
Their leader explained that the walkers had come to apologize for the
atrocities committed in the name of Christ during the Crusades. Then they read
a letter of apology in German, Turkish and English. They were "greeted with
loud, sustained applause." The Imam responded: "When I heard the nature of
your message, I was astonished and filled with hope. I thought to myself,
'whoever had this idea must have had an epiphany, a visit from God himself.'
It is my wish that this project should become a very great success."
During the Crusades, the entire Jewish population of Cologne was destroyed. In
remembrance of this, the walkers went to the local synagogue. Since it was a
Jewish holy day, the walkers did not go inside; they prayed and moved on.
Individual walkers joined the group for as few as 10 days or as much as many
months at a time. Following the ancient routes of the Crusades, one team
passed through France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Slovenia Croatia,
Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Greece. A second team set out from
Germany and passed through Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. The teams met at
Istanbul, Turkey on 1996-OCT-10. The Deputy Mufti of Istanbul, the Chief
Rabbi, the Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch (head of the Orthodox
church) and the Deputy Mayer welcomed the team with warmth and
appreciation. "In towns and villages, people spilled out of their houses and
applauded the team as they passed." They visited countless cities, towns, and
villages in Turkey during 1996 and 1997.
In mid-1998, a team arrived in Antakya, Turkey (once called Antioch) on the

900th anniversary of the conquest of that city. By 1998-SEP, they had reached
Syria and Lebanon. About 500 participants reached Jerusalem on 1999-JUL-15,
the 900th anniversary of the killing of about 60,000 Jerusalem residents and
the destruction of the city.
About 2,000 Christians from 27 countries have participated in this walk. Most
are Evangelical Protestants. They have worn T-shirts and caps that say "I
apologize" in Arabic or Hebrew.
The Reconciliation Walk statement of apology reads:
"Nine hundred years ago, our forefathers carried the name of Jesus Christ in
battle across the Middle East. Fueled by fear, greed and hatred, they betrayed
the name of Christ by conducting themselves in a manner contrary to His
wishes and character. The Crusaders lifted the banner of the Cross above your
people. By this act they corrupted its true meaning of reconciliation,
forgiveness and selfless love.
On the anniversary of the First Crusade we also carry the name of Christ. We
wish to retrace the footsteps of the Crusaders in apology for their deeds and
in demonstration of the true meaning of the Cross. 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.
Where they were motivated by hatred and prejudice, we offer love and
brotherhood. Jesus the Messiah came to give life. Forgive us for allowing His
name to be associated with death. Please accept again the true meaning of
the Messiah's words:
'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good
news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the
year of the Lord's favor.' "
References:
1. "Reconciliation Walk: The Crusades," at:

http://www.reconciliationwalk.org/crusades.htm
2. David Sharrock, "Nine hundred years later, a Christian apology for
Crusades," The Guardian. Reprinted in The Globe and Mail, Toronto ON,
1999-JUL-5.
3. "The Catholic Encyclopedia: Crusades," at:
http://www.csn.net/advent/cathen/04543c.htm
4. "[Gwynne Dyer,] Historian: Reconciliation walk has bad sense of
history," Maranatha Christian Journal, at:
http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3274.htm
THE "HOLY" CRUSADES
"murder, rape, cannibalism,

incest, torture, and bloodshed -
All in The Name of "Christ"
Does the end Justify the Means ?
Some religions of Christendom praise the "Holy" Crusades

as a wonderful means by which "Christianity" was spread
around the world. The Crusades were known for the
extreme violence and blood shed that "Forcefully" gained
converts to the Newly adoped Church of Rome.
But what kind of Faith was spread ? Would Christ have

approved of this wholesale slaughter in his Name ?
How completely opposite was this method of conversion
than that of Christ and the Apostles.
Did the end Justify the Means ?
The Clergy of "Apostate" Christendom - Sent and Empowered

the Crusaders to Fight, Murder, and Plunder - under the Sign
of the Cross -
"The name crusade (from Latin, "cross",

the emblem of the Crusaders) was also applied,
especially in the 13th century, to wars
against pagan peoples, Christian heretics,
and political foes of the papacy."
--History of Byzantium
Crusades - Hypocrisy of Western Nations
"A crusade was originally meant to be

a war where all leaders and men fought
under the banner of the church. The "call"
for a crusade was made by the Pope."
--The Crusades - An Overview
"The Shield and Sword"
Newsletter Archive
"The men who fought these wars under the

church's banner would take a vow before
the Pope or his priests and they would
receive a cross to wear. Some called it
"taking the cross". It also bestowed upon
them a few "indulgences" or temporal
privileges, such as not having to obey
civil laws, as well as their lands,
property and persons being safe from
seizure. They only had to obey the laws
of the church."
Newsletter Archive

"taking the cross".
Newsletter Archive
"The Crusaders were also granted a plenary

indulgence from sin by the Pope; and at the
voice of their pastor, the robber, the incendiary,
the homicide, arose by thousands to redeem
their souls by repeating on the infidels
the same deeds which they had exercised
against their Christian brethren. They also
enjoyed temporal privileges."
--Crimes of Christianity
Chapter IX - The Crusades
G W Foote & J M Wheeler
"During the time that a crusader bore the cross,

he was free from suit for his debts, and the
interest on them was entirely abolished;
he was exempted from taxes, and placed under
the protection of the Church, so that he could
not be pleaded in any civil court."
"The First Crusade (1095 - 1101)
It was decided that Pope Urban II should
call for a crusade. Each man who took the vow
received a red cloth cross to wear on his shoulder.
Four great armies as well as many small groups
went forth, ill–equipped but ready to fight for God,
and they would kill Jews, pillage and plunder
along the way."
Newsletter Archive
"Pope Eugnius IV called for a crusade,

at Christmas time in the year 1145."
--Medieval Sourcebook:
Odo of Deuil:
The Crusade of Louis VII
"The Jews were the first victims of

the Crusaders plunder. The Crusaders -
Considering themselves as enlisted in
the service of Christ, concluded that
they were fully warranted to take vengeance
on his murderers, and they, therefore,
put to the sword without mercy such as
refused to be baptized, seizing their
property without the smallest regard
to the rights of justice. In Bavaria
alone twelve thousand Jews were massacred,
and many thousands more in the other
provinces of Germany."
--The History of the Christian Church
By William Jones
First Edition 1812 - London
"These pious robbers, having tasted the

sweets of plunder, and being subject to no
military regulations, began of course to
pillage without distinction, till the
inhabitants of the countries through which
they passed rose in defense of themselves
and their families."
By William Jones
"The Crusades began formally on Tuesday,
November 27, 1095, in a field just outside
the walls of the French city of Clermont-Ferrand.
On that day Pope Urban II preached a sermon
to crowds of laypeople and clergy attending
a church council at Clermont. In his sermon,
the pope outlined a plan for a Crusade and
called on his listeners to join its ranks."
Crusades -Hypocrisy of Western Nations
"THE CRUSADES - the most signal and most

durable monument of human folly that has yet
appeared in any age or nation."
--[Robertson’s History of Charles V.
vol. 1. Appendix, Note 13.]
"The Crusades....this subject forms a prominent

feature in the history of the Antichristian
APOSTASY..."
--History of England,
volume 1, chapter 5
"During the Crusades - The brave were not

protected by arms, nor the timid by submission;
neither age nor sex were spared; infants
perished by the same sword that pierced
the supplicating mother. The streets of
Jerusalem were covered with heaps of slain;
and the shrieks of agony or despair resounded
from every house, when these triumphant warriors,
glutted with slaughter, threw aside their arms,
still streaming with blood, and advanced,
with naked feet and bended knees to the
sepulcher of the Prince of Peace! They then
sung anthems to that Redeemer who had purchased
their salvation by his death, while deaf to the
cries of distress from their fellow-creatures."
By William Jones
"The fourth Crusade issued from England,

France, Flanders and Lorraine. Mills calls
them "another herd of wild and desperate savages."
Their leaders were a goat and a goose, who were
thought to be inspired by the Holy Ghost.
They took to murdering the Jews, a crime
which gratified at once their avarice and
their fanaticism. Cologne was the first city
they stained with blood. Thousands of Jews
were massacred and pillaged in the towns
on the banks of the Rhine and Moselle.
Seven hundred were slaughtered at Mayence,
The infernal multitude, as Mills calls them,
"hurried on to the south in their usual
career of carnage and rapine;" They pursued
them with such slaughter that the waters of
the Danube were for some days red with their
blood."
"Carrion was openly dressed," says Mills,

"and human flesh was eaten in secret.
Cannibalism was carried to a great extent
by the lowest of the low and the camp-followers
made a virtue of it. They liked nothing so well
to eat as the roasted flesh of their enemies."
"The papal chair was then filled by
Pope Clement III, who ordered a Crusade
to be preached throughout all the countries
of Christendom.
By William Jones
"Crusaders - their more appropriate title

would have been that of wolves; for, wherever
they came, they robbed and pillaged without
either regard to justice or mercy..."
By William Jones
"Persuaded that heretics, or those who

dissented from the Roman church, deserved
the punishment of death, he favored the
tribunal of the Inquisition; and the same
turn of thinking led him to ascribe merit
to a war against Infidels - the Crusades."
By William Jones
"THE Crusades form one of the maddest

episodes in history. Christianity hurled
itself....in expedition after expedition
for nearly three centuries. Millions perished
in battle, hunger, or disease; and every
atrocity the imagination can conceive
disgraced the warriors of the Cross."
"Religious fanaticism gave birth to the
Crusades. Modern apologists of Christianity
have assigned other causes...But these are
the excuses of a later age and a more timid
faith. Hallam remarks that the Christian cry,
"It is the will of God," proves the motive
with which the Crusades were undertaken."

"taking the cross". It also bestowed upon
them a few "indulgences" or temporal
privileges, such as not having to obey
civil laws, as well as their lands,
property and persons being safe from
seizure. Tey only had to obey the laws
of the church."
Newsletter Archive
The Crusaders - "Thence they marched to
Constantinople...and the emperor supplied them
with provisions, and as soon as they recovered
strength they repaid his generosity by deeds of
flagitiousness on his people. Palaces and churches
were plundered to afford them means of intoxication
and excess. Michaud says that they committed
crimes which made nature shudder. They killed
children at the breast, scattered their limbs
in the air, and carried their ravages to the
very walls of the city of Nice."
"The Third Crusade - a devotion to brutal

license of rapine, prostitution and drunkenness.
According to Michaud, they gave themselves up
to intemperance; in tumultuous scenes of
debauchery, and pillage, violation, and murder
were everywhere left as the traces of their passage.
At Mersburgh they committed horrible outrages.
On a trifling quarrel they impaled a young
Hungarian in the market place."
"The Crusaders - The army of the cross,

as they called themselves, next fell upon
Constantinople. They entered the city
without much resistance, putting every one
to the sword who opposed them, and gave
themselves up to all the excesses of avarice
and fury. The booty alone, was valued at
four hundred thousand marks of silver:
the very churches were pillaged. The church
of St. Sophia, after having robbed the altar
they drenched the city in blood! Thus was this
noble city, in that age the most flourishing
in the Christian world, for the first time
taken and sacked by Christians. One consequence
of this was, that the pope gained, for a time,
the whole Eastern church; a huge acquisition."
By William Jones
"During the Crusades -The moral fabric of Europe,

says Mills, was convulsed; the relations and
charities of life were broken; society appeared
to be dissolved."
"Peter the Hermit led the second crusade

of forty thousand men, women and children,
of all nations and languages. Arriving at
Malleville they avenged their precursors
by assaulting the town, slaying seven thousand
of the inhabitants, and abandoning themselves
to "every species of grossness and libertinism."
According to Mills "virgin modesty was no
protection," and "conjugal virtue no safeguard"
against these sanctified soldiers of the cross."
"When the leaders of the crusading army
arrived in Europe, the pope wrote a severe
letter to the emperor, accusing him of having
sacrificed the interests of Christianity
by so long delaying the performance of his vow,
and threatening him with immediate excommunication,
if he did not instantly depart with an army
into Asia."
By William Jones
"Religious fanaticism was the chief motive

of this Crusade, but it was mixed with others.
The east was thought to abound in riches;
the wealth gleamed on the imagination;
and sensuality was allured by the fabulous
flavor of oriental wines and the magical
beauty of Grecian women. Avarice, ambition,
and lust, co-operated with faith."
Among the early French poems on the Crusades

is one entitled 'The Leaguer of Antioch',
of which Von Sybel gives an abbreviated
translation about them eating the human flesh
of those they had slain:
"More than ten thousand,
where in heaps the Paynim lay about.
They hewed the corpses limb from limb,
and disembowelled clean,
And there was sodden meat and roast,
to blunt their hunger keen:
Right savory fare it seemed there;
they smacked their lips and spake,--
Farewell to fasts: a daintier meal
than this who asks to make?
'Tis sweeter far than porker's flesh,
or bacon seethed in grease.
Let's make good cheer, and feast us here,
till life and hunger cease.'"
"In Jerusalem, walls and fortifications were

being torn down to prevent the Christians from
using them for defense if they should reach the
city and take it...Fearing a repeat of the
bloodbath during the First Crusade...."
Newsletter Archive
Concerning the Crusaders it was said -
"the rudeness and ferocity of the soldiers
of Christ....the zeal of the Christian sects
was embittered by hatred and revenge;
and in the kingdom of a suffering Messiah,
who had pardoned his enemies, they aspired
to command and persecute their spiritual
brethren."
"Such was the conquest of Jerusalem

by the bloody warriors of the cross.
There is no blacker chapter in the
world's history; and justice condemns
the expedition as wicked and insane,
and truth brands alike the soldiers
and their religious chiefs as the vilest
horde of pious savages that ever polluted
the earth."
"The Third Crusade - Like other Crusades,

this one was marked by the grossest debauchery.
They indulged in the worst excesses. Three hundred
women arrived from Cyprus and the Greek islands,
and prostituted themselves in the Christian camp,
while the Saracens beheld the spectacle with
disgust. Michaud sums up the depravity of the
soldiers of the cross by saying that all the
vices of Europe and Asia had met in one spot."
"Constantinople was the capital city of a

Christian empire, but the Crusaders sacked it
as though it were inhabited by Saracens.
The Crusaders put to the sword every Greek
they met with on entering the city. "It was
a horrible spectacle," says old Villehardouin.
"The scenes of female violation," says Mills,
"need not be described." According to Gibbon,
"the deeds of darkness, fornication, adultery,
and incest, were perpetrated in open day;
and noble matrons and holy nuns were polluted
by the grooms and peasants of the Catholic camp.
What a spectacle! How proudly the bannered cross
must have floated over the scene! "
"Europeans, by this time, were only interested

in Crusades that served their own purposes.
Charles tried to take advantage of the vacancy
of the Holy See to attack Constantinople but was
not able to, due to the negotiations of the Pope
with Michael Palaeologus of Constantinople for
religious reunion."
Newsletter Archive
"Pope Innocent IV, tried to call another crusade

but to no avail since no leader of France would
step forward. Pope Innocent IV's problems with
Frederick II were another reason for the failure."
Newsletter Archive
"The Sixth Crusade (1228 – 1229 AD)

Frederick II, who was supposed to lead the
great crusade, kept asking the Pope for delays.
In 1227, after Gregory IX became pope, he called
Frederick to do his duty and set off for Palestine.
Frederick II soon turned back however and
Pope Gregory IX, fed up, ex–communicated him."
Newsletter Archive
"Nearly a million soldiers of Christ,

of all ages and conditions, and of both sexes,
had perished in less than two years;
to say nothing of those who fell victims
to their cruelty and fanaticism. So many
crimes and so much misery have seldom been
accumulated in so short a space as in the
three years of the first expedition."
"in the short space of a month,

the character of the Christian soldiers
before Jerusalem had become as immoral as
it had been in the long and painful siege
of Antioch. After a procession round Jerusalem,
in the fashion of the ancient circuit of Jericho,
led by barefooted priests carrying crosses
and shouting "Deus id vult," a fresh assault
was made on the city, which was at length
successfully stormed on Good Friday. They erected
their banners on the walls of Jerusalem.
Instead of making the "holy hour" an occasion
for mercy, the Crusaders acted like wild beasts,
and turned the city of the sepulchre of Christ
into a hell of rapine, murder and lust.
The Christians abused the victory by filling
Jerusalem with blood and carnage."
"A bloody sacrifice was offered by the crusaders

to the God of the Christians: neither age nor sex
could mollify their implacable rage. They indulged
themselves three days in a promiscuous massacre;
and the infection of the dead bodies produced
an epidemical disease. Even the harmless Jews
had been burnt in their synagogue."
"The Saracens were massacred in the streets

and in the houses by the crusaders. Nothing was
heard but the groans and cries of death;
the victors trod over heaps of corpses
in pursuing those who vainly attempted
to escape. Raymond d'Argiles, who was an
eye-witness, says that under the portico
of the mosque the blood was knee-deep
and reached the horses' bridles."
"Such was the carnage of Omar, that the

mutilated carcasses were hurried by the
torrents of blood into the court;
dissevered arms and hands floated into
the current that carried them into contact
with bodies to which they had not belonged.
Ten thousand people were murdered in this
sanctuary. It was not only the lacerated
and headless trunks which shocked the sight,
but the figures of the victors themselves
reeking with the blood of their slaughtered
enemies. No place of refuge remained to the
vanquished, so indiscriminately did the
insatiable fanaticism of the conquerors
disregard alike supplication and resistance.
Some were slain, others were thrown from
the tops of the churches and of the citadel."
"After paying their devotion to Christ,

and worshipping on the various spots that
were hallowed by his presence, the Crusaders
resumed the murder of his enemies. Three hundred
prisoners, to whom Tancred had promised safety,
were perfidiously massacred. Neither the tears
of women, nor the cries of little children,
nor the sight of the place where Jesus Christ
forgave his executioners, could mollify the
victor's passion"
"The subjugated people were therefore dragged
into the public places, and slain as victims.
Women with children at the breast, girls and boys,
all were slaughtered. The squares, the streets,
and even the uninhabited places of Jerusalem,
again were strewed with the dead bodies of men
and women, and the mangled limbs of children,
No heart melted into compassion or expanded
into benevolence."
"Crusades were also the result of ambitious

popes who sought to extend their political
and religious power. Crusading armies were,
in a sense, the military arm of papal policy."
"historians have pointed to the...fact that

the Crusades offered an outlet for the
ambitions of land-hungry knights and noblemen.
The expeditions are also seen as offering rich
commercial opportunities known as "plundering"
to the merchants of the growing cities of Italy,
particularly the cities of Rome, Genoa, Pisa,
and Venice."
"After the end of the Fourth Crusade it became

apparent to many that the soldiers had just
plundered goods from abroad rather than gain
any long term success. Many Christians had
never even reached the Holy Land."
Newsletter Archive
"Amid the pursuits of piety and murder,

the Crusaders did not neglect to enrich themselves.
Each soldier became the owner of any house
at whose portal he set his buckler. The treasures
of the mosques were devoted to the Christian Church."
"Carrion was openly dressed," says Mills,

and human flesh was eaten in secret.
Cannibalism was carried to a great extent
by the lowest of the low and the camp-followers
made a virtue of it. They liked nothing so well
to eat as the roasted flesh of their enemies."
"Gibbon also says of the Crusaders

that "in the dire necessity of famine,
they sometimes roasted and devoured
the flesh of their infant or adult captives.
They slew some Turkish prisoners and roasted
them publicly. Cannibalism was also resorted
to at the siege of Marra. One chronicler dryly
says there is nothing surprising in the matter,
and wonders that they sometimes ate dogs in
preference to Saracens."
"Mutilation of the dead was indulged in as a sport

by the crusaders. The heads of two thousand Turks,
who fell in a sortie from Antioch, were cut off;
some were exhibited as trophies, others were fixed
on stakes round the camp, and others shot into
the town. On another occasion they dragged their
victims corpses from their sepulchres, and exposed
fifteen hundred heads to the weeping Turks."
"Fighting for Christ did not keep the Crusaders

chaste. During the siege of Antioch they gave the
rein to their passions, and seldom does the history
of profane wars display such scenes of intemperance
and prostitution as did the Crusades. A neighborhood
once devoted to the worship of Venus and Adonis,
spread license and corruption among the soldiers
of Christ."
"All the vices of the infamous Babylon

prevailed among the tents of the Crusaders.
Voluptuousness formed a hideous union with
impure love, an unbounded passion for play,
with all the excesses of debauchery mingled
with the images of death."
"The dignity of age, the helplessness of youth,

and the beauty of the weaker sex, were disregarded
by the crusading savages and their cruelty.
The number massacred on this night was at least
ten thousand."
"The passion for plunder had been stilled

by the thirst for blood: When, however,
every species of habitation, from the marble
palace to the meanest hovel, had been converted
into a scene of slaughter, when the narrow
streets and the spacious squares were all
alike disfigured with human gore, and crowded
with mangled carcasses, then the assassins
turned robbers, and became as mercenary as
they had been merciless."
"The Crusaders ate, drank, and indulged

in the wildest debauchery. Unbounded license
was given to every passion. They slaughtered
all the inhabitants at Marra, and devoured their
flesh; and it is even said that human flesh
was publicly exposed for sale in the Christian
camp. The streets ran with blood until their
ferocity was tired."
"Fighting and backstabbing went on for another
21 years. So it would be truthful to say that
while there were 8 called crusades, there was
in reality only one long crusade lasting almost
two hundred years from 1095 to 1291."
Newsletter Archive
"Besides the incalculable evils they directly

caused, the Crusades led to the slaughter of
the Northern innocents, the massacre of the
Albigenses, and the other wholesale cruelties
with which the Papacy afterwards desolated Europe."
"Enough, and more than enough, has been said

to convince the reader of the deplorable state
of darkness and superstition which reigned
throughout Europe, to say nothing of Asia
and Africa, during this period. The Crusades
being conducted under the immediate protection
of the Roman church....the Venetians and Genoese,
thereby acquired immense sums of money, and at
the same time opened to themselves a new source
of wealth, by importing into Europe the plundered
commodities of Asia. The cities of Italy grew rich
and powerful, and obtained extensive privileges."
-- Hume’s History of England,
vol. 1, ch. 5. Robertson’s Charles V.
vol. 1, APPENDIX.
Russel’s History of Modern Europe,
vol. 1, LETT. 25, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34.]
Constantine's Influence
on Christianity
Constantine's Influence
on Christianity
Constantine's reign as Roman emperor
(A.D. 306-337) dramatically changed
the direction of Christianity. This
grew out of his strategy for unifying
his empire by creating a "catholic"—
meaning universal —church that would
blend elements from many religions
into one.
The "Christianity" Constantine endorsed

was different from that practiced by Christ
and the apostles. The emperor accelerated
the change by his own hatred of Jews.
Constantine himself said, "Let us then have

nothing in common with the detestable Jewish
crowd."
-(Eusebius, Life of Constantine 3, 18-19,
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1979,
second series, Vol. 1, pp. 524-525).
For example, at the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325),

church authorities essentially replaced the
biblical Passover with Easter, a popular holiday
rooted in ancient springtime fertility celebrations.
British historian Paul Johnson summarizes

how Constantine's approach of merging religious
practices produced a corrupted Christianity
that meshed paganism with biblical elements.
When we consider the vast differences between

the mainstream Christianity of today and the
original Christianity of Jesus Christ and the
apostles, we can trace much of that change to
Constantine and the religious system he put
into power.
"Constantine corrupted and perverted Christinaity

more than he aided it. He was an ambitious and
superstitious Emperor who murdered his own
kindred (his wife and son) while promoting
Christianity. He paganized Christianity while
using it as a political tool to solidify his Empire."
-Paganism Surviving in Christianity
By Abram Herbert Lewis
"The Control of Christianity by the State
Under Constantine and his Successors"
Chapter X; pg. 203
"The opening of the Fourth Century marks a

new era in the process by which paganism
poisoned Christianity. Constantine turned
Christianity into a piece of political
machinery."
Chapter X; pg. 208
"Soon after the so-called conversion of
Constantine...the Church entered on its
Apostasy from the primitive simplicity
and purity which marked its earlier
history. Pagans in vast multitudes
pressed into the Christian Fold,
bringing with them old practices
and customs, and filling the places
of Christian worship with the pageantry
and ornaments which characterized the
worship of the gods in heathen temples.
These unconverted millions became only
nominally Christian, impressing the
doctrines, rites, and forms of pagan
religion upon the Christian Church."
-The Old Catholic Church
by W.D. Killen D.D.; pp.70-72
Edinburgh; 1871
"From the time of Constantine onward,

the worship of the Roman Catholic Church,
in its forms and ceremonies, has been
more clearly identified with the paganism
of Ancient Rome, than with the religion
of the New Testament. The customs of
pagan religion were only baptized with
Christian names."
Chapter X; pg. 210
"Constantine turned Christianity

into a piece of political machinery."
"Constantine turned Christianity into
a piece of political machinery."
Chapter X; pg. 208
Constantine -
A Blood-thirsty Leader
"Constantine had no respect for human life,

and as emperor he executed his eldest son,
his own second wife, his favorite sister's
husband and 'many others' on doubtful charges.
He was also responsible for wholesale massacres
in north Africa."
- History of Christianity
Johnson; (p.68)
"Constantine had a father-in-law,

whom he commanded to be hung;
he had a brother-in-law,
whom he ordered to be strangled;
he had a nephew twelve or thirteen
years old, whose throat he ordered
to be cut; he had an eldest son,
whom he beheaded; he had a wife,
whom he ordered to be suffocated
in a bath."
-Voltaire
Philosophical Dictionary,
article "Constantine".
These atrocious crimes were perpetrated

after Constantine declared himself to be
a Christian. This is the man who became
leader of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
This is the man who "legalized" Christianity
in the Roman Empire. This is the leader
who voted for and established many of the
doctrines taught in the churches today.
Constantine presided at Church councils

and worshipped the divinity of Christ,
as a doctrine that was decided upon by
the councils of Nicea that were political
efforts to cement the pagans with the
last vestiges of believing Christians.
It cannot be doubted that the character

of Constantine deteriorated rather than
improved under the influence of his form
of Christianity.
"Constantine pursued the great object

of his ambition through the dark and bloody
paths of war and policy; and, after the victory,
he abandoned himself, without moderation,
to the abuse of his fortune. He declined in
the practice of virtue; and the same year
of his reign in which he convened the Council
of Nice was polluted by the execution,
or rather murder, of his eldest son."
-The History of the Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire
By Edward Gibbon, 1887, Chap. xx.
"Constantine never actually accepted

Christianity...Constantine never totally
abandoned Paganism...and was known to
continue to worship pagan gods.
Even after his conversion, Constantine
was well known for his brutality."
-Constantine - The Making of a Saint
by Andras Nagy
Constantine
and The "Trinity"
"Christians claim to follow the teachings
of the one they call Jesus Christ, but their
traditions today are radically different
than the original teachings of that man.
The process of the development of Christianity
is a long and complicated one, but there are
a number of key influential figures who
played a crucial role in it. While most
are familiar with the names of the 12 apostles,
they are usually unfamiliar with the one
who claimed to be the 13th, Constantine
the Great, the first Holy Roman Emperor."
-The Thirteenth Disciple
Constantine and The Trinity
by Nozrem ha Brit
"It was Constantine who changed the day

of worship from Saturday to Sunday,
despite the fact that Jesus, and all of
the apostles strictly observed the Sabbath
on Saturday. His decision was influenced
by the fact that Sun-Day was the Roman day
of worship of the Sun-God, Apollo."
by Nozrem ha Brit
"Constantine decided that God was

three-in-one based on the theologians
Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine.
Constantine convened the council of
Nicaea in 325, in which the Creed
outlined his version of the relationship
between Jesus and the Father. It is
unfortunate that the relationship of
Constantine and his own son could not
be so close, as while he was in the West
he had his eldest son and friend, Crispus,
and his wife, Fausta, executed for reasons
that remained a mystery. All other forms of
Christianity that did not comply to
this Creed, were labeled as heretics
and were to be eliminated. To this day,
Constantine’s Nicean Creed is used as
the basis for determining who is a
Christian, which is why Jehovah’s Witnesses,
are still labelled as heretics today."
by Nozrem ha Brit
"The effects of pagan influences

on Christian traditions can most clearly
be seen in its’ celebrations, for every
single one has a pagan celebration
as its origin. One festivity that was
personally initiated by Constantine
was All Saint’s Day, quite appropriate
as the mythology of pagan traditions
were transferred to the stories of the Saints."
by Nozrem ha Brit
"Between Constantine and cohorts,

the entire foundation of modern
Christianity was developed.
Yet perhaps we should ponder
if it would have been better for
Yeshua’s (Jesus')teachings to have
disappeared than to have them so
utterly corrupted and perpetuated
as his own."
by Nozrem ha Brit

Christian Apology For The Crusades

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Christian Apology For The Crusades

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Christian apology for the Crusades:

The Reconciliation Walk

About the Crusades and their legacy of hatred:

The result of centuries of conflict among followers of the three main

"The Reconciliation Walk is an interdenominational grassroots movement of

In mid-1998, a team arrived in Antakya, Turkey (once called Antioch) on the

The Reconciliation Walk statement of apology reads:

1. "Reconciliation Walk: The Crusades," at:

THE "HOLY" CRUSADES

"murder, rape, cannibalism,

Some religions of Christendom praise the "Holy" Crusades

But what kind of Faith was spread ? Would Christ have

Did the end Justify the Means ?

The Clergy of "Apostate" Christendom - Sent and Empowered

"The name crusade (from Latin, "cross",

"A crusade was originally meant to be

"The men who fought these wars under the

"The men who fought these wars under the

"The Crusaders were also granted a plenary

"During the time that a crusader bore the cross,

"Pope Eugnius IV called for a crusade,

"The Jews were the first victims of

"These pious robbers, having tasted the

"THE CRUSADES - the most signal and most

"The Crusades....this subject forms a prominent

"During the Crusades - The brave were not

"The fourth Crusade issued from England,

"Carrion was openly dressed," says Mills,

"Crusaders - their more appropriate title

"Persuaded that heretics, or those who

"THE Crusades form one of the maddest

"The men who fought these wars under the

"The Third Crusade - a devotion to brutal

"The Crusaders - The army of the cross,

"During the Crusades -The moral fabric of Europe,

"Peter the Hermit led the second crusade

"Religious fanaticism was the chief motive

Among the early French poems on the Crusades

"In Jerusalem, walls and fortifications were

"Such was the conquest of Jerusalem

"The Third Crusade - Like other Crusades,

"Constantinople was the capital city of a

"Europeans, by this time, were only interested

"Pope Innocent IV, tried to call another crusade

"The Sixth Crusade (1228 – 1229 AD)

"Nearly a million soldiers of Christ,

"in the short space of a month,

"A bloody sacrifice was offered by the crusaders

"The Saracens were massacred in the streets

"Such was the carnage of Omar, that the

"After paying their devotion to Christ,

"Crusades were also the result of ambitious

"historians have pointed to the...fact that

"After the end of the Fourth Crusade it became

"Amid the pursuits of piety and murder,

"Carrion was openly dressed," says Mills,

"Gibbon also says of the Crusaders

"Mutilation of the dead was indulged in as a sport

"Fighting for Christ did not keep the Crusaders

"All the vices of the infamous Babylon

"The dignity of age, the helplessness of youth,

"The passion for plunder had been stilled