Christian Jihad
In their book, Christian Jihad, authors Ergun and Emir Caner wanted to show the mistakes of the Christians during the Crusades so that we will learn from them and not re-live the same mistakes. The book illustrates the steps that took place in order for the church to fall so far away from the truth. The authors give warnings to secure our liberty and freedoms. A few things the authors strongly insist are: to have enough independence to know when we are faced with lies, to fear extreme tolerance, and that torture is never in the will of God.
Common belief around 300 AD was that Christians should not be involved in warfare. It was believed that Christians were to offer themselves in death rather that taking the life of another. Christians suffered through many horrific persecutions, and they highly honored the martyrs of the faith. Constantine’s rise to power in 324 began the transition in the teaching of the church, regarding the evils of warfare, away from this previous belief. Believers were now allowed to be in the military but were given specific restrictions against duties that involved violence. Jobs such as guarding the emperor, care of public transportation and mails, secretarial duties, and others like these, were now seen in a positive light. Emperor Constantine looks back to the Old Testament and reminds the people of Rome the situations in which the Israelites killed for God’s purposes. He believed that war was for protecting the innocent; it was honorable, virtuous, and God-ordained. He also believed the innocent should be defended even to the point of slaughtering the enemy. During the time of Constantine, Christians began to give explicit approval of warfare as a restraint of evil. They even took it as far as to discharge all pagans, and allow only Christians to serve in the military. They took it upon themselves to judge the wicked instead of waiting for God.
In the year of 800, Charlemagne and Leo III entered into an unholy marriage between the church and the state. The Christians took many political positions and some became addicted to the taste of power. When the church was no longer useful to the state, it tossed her aside as an unwanted mistress. In 1088, Urban II was brought into power. There was turbulence in the church and many were concerned about the future. It is said that, “If he were unable to unite the people of the faith quickly, the Church would divide into warring factions bent on self-rule and domination.”[1] He was able to unite them with a common enemy. That enemy was the Muslims and Jews. He was determined to take Jerusalem from these pagans. He justified killing by saying that God was placing His judgment on this place, since it had suffered so long under the blasphemies of the pagans. He promised Christians that they would receive God’s salvation for their martyrdom. Most of the people who joined his army were illiterate. This disabled them from learning that the Crusades were, after all, not “God’s will.” They were completely dependent on the Church leaders to care for their souls. In Urban’s eyes, it was necessary to substitute a war against the pagans for wars between Christians. Christian brothers even began betraying one another. They were more interested in personal gain than unity by the time of the second Crusade, in 1147. Christians were undistinguishable from non-Christians for each were reaching new heights in brutality and deceit. They had come a long way from there criteria of a “Just War.” Christians now turned from shedding the blood of others to the killing of their own. Sufferings were believed to lead to repentance, so they began torturing people in order to save the sinners soul from eternal damnation. This was the time of the Inquisitions. Anyone could be accused of heresy and would most likely suffer tortures since the people could easily and innocently answer a question incorrectly.
As a result of the crusades “The Christians lost stature as the reasonable voice of peace in the midst of conflict. They also abandoned perspective, as a holy band working toward the kingdom of Jesus Christ.”[2] The Christians held to the concept of converting the world by the sword, instead of by the gospel. Though it seemed that they had gained the whole world, they had lost their souls. The Caner brothers state that “…forced orthodoxy cannot biblically or logically lead to genuine adoration.”[3] War is not the way to handle salvation. God alone is the righteous judge. Jesus warned against events such as the Crusades in Matthew 13:24-30, when he told His parable of the wheat and the tares. Christ died for all sinners. When the time is right, God Himself will sift through the crop and decipher between the wheat and the tares. The crusades teach us that we must keep watch on our state to ensure that our freedoms are not hindered upon. The authors warn us to make certain that liberty is not replaced with tolerance in our own government. They say that we should not fall into the lie of being tolerant. No religion is a religion just like any other. Slaughter such as this is never the answer. It is never the will of God. God is a just God, and He never calls us to such horrendous acts such as torture.