Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa
Originally Posted by graciegirl
... Religion, any religion is wrong if it kills.
Two things:
1. Graciegirl overlooks the Roman Catholic doctrine of the just (as opposed to unjust) war. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraphs 2302-2317, authoritatively teaches what constitutes the just defense of a nation against an aggressor.
Called the Just War Doctrine, it was first enunciated by St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD). Over the centuries it was taught by Doctors of the Church, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, and formally embraced by the Magisterium, which has also adapted it to the situation of modern warfare. This doctrine is generally observed by non-Catholic groups as well.
2. People who believe that Muslims have some justification for thinking that modern killing of Christians has some relationship to the Crusades do not understand the history of the Crusades.
The Crusades were the Christian push-back against Muslim expansionism, which had spread the Muslim religion BY THE SWORD across all of North Africa on the south side of the Mediterranean Sea and across the north shore of the Mediterranean all the way to Spain. (That's why Spain has so much "Moorish" architecture.)
If this push-back had not been mounted, all of Europe would be Muslim today. The Muslims, not the Crusaders, were the aggressors.
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History is certainly subject to interpretation. However, to keep it simple, what would be the explanation that there still exist today Crusader fortifications built hundreds of years ago in places that would not be associated with Christianity during the time of the Crusades--such places as Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and more.
The "kill them all!" applied not solely to Muslims; it applied to everyone who did not accept the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church. In this context, consider the Inquisition in Catholic countries like Spain and Portugal, which I would think we're all familiar with. And though not directly related to this issue, consider the response of the Roman Catholic Church to the Cathars (fellow Christians who felt the true principles of Christianity were being compromised by the Church, sought to separate themselves from it, and were followed and massacred by the armies of the Church because of their beliefs).
History cannot be viewed in such black-and-white terms. History--especially when forgotten or, worse, never learned--has a way of coming back to haunt us. We cannot glibly say that one side is the aggressor, not the other, when there are so many other factors to consider, for example, colonialism (France "owning" Algeria, for one, and its results in the present); and rule by individual despotic dictators that did result in a semblance of stability, even if were not what we in the West would consider ideal or even acceptable (Marshal Tito in the "made-up country" of Yugoslavia, Saddam Hussein in Iraq after the whole Middle East had been carved up into so-called "countries" mainly by the British from the Ottoman Empire early in the 20th century). These are just two examples.
Again, I reiterate that I am not justifying today's jihadism but just considering what might be one (of many) possible reasons for it.