National Review: 'Heaven In The Face Of Hell'

The families of 21 Coptic Christians martyred in Libya showed a gratitude not of this world. 

by Kathryn Jean Lopez
National Review, February 23, 2015

Twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians were slaughtered on a beach in Libya a week ago. And even in his mourning, the brother of two of them gave thanks. 

Beshir Kamel, brother of both Bishoy Astafanus Kamel, who was 25, and Somaily Astafanus Kamel, who was 23, thanked their murderers for not editing out the name of their Savior when disseminating the video of their beheadings. 

Appearing on an Arabic Christian television station, Kamel said that the families of the men, laborers who were working in Libya in order to provide for their families � 13 of them from the same small, impoverished village � were congratulating one another. �We are proud to have this number of people from our village who have become martyrs,� he explained.

Who would have an ounce of gratitude at such a moment? The answer: one who has hope � hope of something real and eternal. 

It sounds crazy to a modern secular society, one that tends to view religious faith as sentiment, comfort, and milestone ritual. 

Kamel said: �Since the Roman era, Christians have been martyred and have learned to handle everything that comes our way. This only makes us stronger in our faith because the Bible told us to love our enemies and bless those who curse us.� And he relayed what his mother had said, when asked what she would do if she ever met the man who had beheaded her son. �My mother, an uneducated woman in her sixties, said she would ask [him] to enter her house and ask God to open his eyes because he was the reason her son entered the kingdom of heaven.� 

That�s no mere sentiment, comfort, or ritual. While it�s unlikely that the Kamels� mother will face that day, Christians throughout the world have the ability to take action. 

In his response to the news from Libya, His Grace Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, explained: �While it may seem illogical or incomprehensible, we also pray for those who have carried out these horrific crimes, that the value of God�s creation and human life may become more evident to them, and in this realization, that the wider effects of pain brought by this and other acts of brutality may be realized and avoided. We pray for an end to the dehumanization of captives who become mere commodities to be bartered, traded, and negotiated with.� 

The 21 Coptic Christians were killed because they were Christians, and some people � some of those most intimately affected by this evil � were responding as Christians. 

After committing himself to pray for those who suffer, Bishop Angaelos reminded Christians of the lesson of the witness of the 21 � a number that became a standard avatar on Twitter in the wake of the murders.  

There are geopolitical considerations and action to be taken in that sphere; there are charitable works to ontribute to; but there is also a lesson in what it is to be truly Christian that often seems the stuff of legend to us today, even as fellow countrymen of ours have dedicated their lives in radical sacrifice to love of God and service flowing from that love. As Bishop Angaelos put it: �In the midst of this sorrow, however, we must continue to dig deeper for the joy that comes from an understanding that this life is but a �vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away� (James 4:14), and that true glory and joy are found in an eternal life prepared for all those who live in and for love and peace.� He continued: �It is only through this understanding that we can continue to live according to the words of I Peter 3:15 as demonstrated in the life and witness of the Coptic Church and her children over centuries, �. . . always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. . . .�� 

Besides fundamental matters of human rights and freedom, this is why cultures benefit from having Christians in their midst; this is why it is so urgent that they not be eradicated from the birthplace of Christianity: Christians who take their faith seriously are leaven. 

Pope Francis emphasized this as he celebrated morning Mass for the Coptic martyrs: �They were killed simply for the fact they were Christians.� He echoed a theme of his own journey to the Holy Land last year: �The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard.� He went on to say, �It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts, or Protestants. They are Christians!� And he added, �The martyrs belong to all Christians.� 

The Christianity of the men who were martyred for their faith, is �the most important aspect of the story,� said Samuel Tadros, the author of a book on Christians in Egypt, Motherland Lost, and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute�s Center for Religious Freedom. �ISIS gunmen chose these men from among other Egyptians living there because they were Copts,� he said. �This was no random choice. ISIS holds deep hostility to say the least towards Middle Eastern Christians. Its goal is quite simply the eradication of their existence.� 

The evil done to Milad Makeen Zaky, Abanub Ayad Atiya, Maged Solaiman Shehata, Yusuf Shukry Yunan, Kirollos Shokry Fawzy, Bishoy Astafanus Kamel, Somaily Astafanus Kamel, Malak Ibrahim Sinweet, Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros, Girgis Milad Sinweet, Mina Fayez Aziz, Hany Abdelmesih Salib, Bishoy Adel Khalaf, Samuel Alham Wilson, Ezat Bishri Naseef, Loqa Nagaty, Gaber Munir Adly, Esam Badir Samir, Malak Farag Abram, Sameh Salah Faruq, and one other man from the village of Awr is the most important news story of the pre-Oscars week, on a day that included an NBA All-Star game and Saturday Night Live�s 40th-anniversary show. Would we would give it nearly as much attention. God have mercy on us if we don�t. 

� Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online, and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. This column is based on one available exclusively through Andrews McMeel Universal�s Newspaper Enterprise Association.

Britain's Coptic Christian Community 'Scared to be in UK' after Libya killings

�We are not fighting an invasion � this ideology is already here, it is spreading like a cancer... To be frank this is only the tip of the iceberg. Unless the world unites, it will be a disaster for all of us.� � Coptic Christian in the UK

Pravoslavie � February 26, 2015

Egyptian Christmas eve service at St Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church in Kensington. Photograph: Eugenie Absalom/Eugenie Absalom/Demotix/Corbis

Among Britain�s Coptic Christians there was a sense of stupefied horror, as film of the murder of 21 Egyptian Copts, at the hands of Isis in Libya sent shock waves throughout the community.

The video of the mass beheading of the 21 prisoners in Libya was released on Sunday, but for days images of captives in regulation orange uniforms, paraded by black-clad gunmen had haunted the international community.

�We have met this news with sorrow and disbelief � although people saw this coming there was a hope that something could be done to change the outcome,� said Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom. �When it came it was so heartless and inhumane.�

Angaelos, head of the orthodox Christian community in the UK, received a call from the prime minister, who expressed his condolences for the murder of the guest workers, who were kidnapped in Sirte, on Libya�s coast, by Isis members in December and January. A video made of the murders titled �a message signed in blood to the people of the cross�, makes reference to the �hostile Egyptian Church�.

�The prime minister focused on the fact that these actions are unacceptable by the principles we live by in this country,� he said.

That may come of little consolation to UK Coptic Christians, most of whom have relatives in Egypt, some from the very same villages and provinces as the killed hostages.

Egyptian Coptic Christians are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, with an estimated 10-15 million members in Egypt � around 10% of the population. Coptics follow an orthodox strand of Christianity which requires them to closely follow the church�s dogma, which includes fasting for some part of 210 days a year. They formed a community in the UK in the 60s, which now has around 20,000 members. Many of them are now living in fear, said Father Antonious Thabet, a priest at St Mark�s church in Kensington.

�We are very scared, some people in my congregation have said they are scared to be in the UK � these people are everywhere,� he said. �There is anger against leaders who did nothing. They have to do something, saying that we are sorry this had happened is not enough.�

Special services will be held in Coptic churches throughout the UK this week, while peaceful demonstrations of solidarity are planned for the weekend. Magda Sakr, an Egyptian muslim who has lived in the UK for 20 years will be among the mourners.

�People are trying to separate Christian and Muslims, but we are all Egyptian,� she said, fighting back tears. �These people have nothing to do with Islam, they are maniacs. This is not about religion, it is about standing up for humanity.�

Her friend, Shenouda Shalaby, a doctor at Ealing hospital and a member of Father Antonious congregation, said the world needed to wake up. �We are not fighting an invasion � this ideology is already here, it is spreading like a cancer,� he said. �To be frank this is only the tip of the iceberg. Unless the world unites, it will be a disaster for all of us.�

The Guardian

South African Muslim Cricketers Not Wearing Shirts With Beer Logo in World Cup 2015

ICC Cricket World cup 2015 is underway right now and 14 Cricket teams from around the globe are taking part in it. many Muslim players are also part of this biggest Cricket tournament. there are four Muslim players in South African squad Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir, Farhaan Behardien and Wayne Parnell. None of these players is wearing shirts having Logo of castle Beer and they are paying fine for it as well.

Beer is haram is Islam so these players are not promoting a Beer company. Hashim Amla is a practical Muslim and he also has a beard. Wayne Parnell is a Muslim convert. Imran Tahir is of Pakistani origin.

This is a great step by these Muslims players and Indeed Allah SWT will reward them for this.

Saying 'AMEN' to the Canonization of the 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya

"All twenty-one were offered the chance to save their lives by embracing Islam, and all twenty-one refused, confessing Christ and dying for Him as true Christian martyrs."

by Archpriest Lawrence Farley,
Orthodox Christian Network, February 25, 2015

Many have heard the dramatic story of the twenty-one Coptic Orthodox Christians working in Libya who were captured and beheaded by ISIS as part of their ongoing campaign of provocation and terror. What may not be as well known in the media is that all twenty-one were offered the chance to save their lives by embracing Islam, and that all twenty-one refused, confessing Christ and dying for Him as true Christian martyrs.

Indeed, it appears that the Coptic Orthodox Church has already canonized them (i.e., declared them to be saints), and some ask what response the Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches should make as regards these courageous Christians. The question involves a look at the evolving practice of official canonization in the church.

People are most familiar with the process of canonization in the Roman Catholic Church, since the Roman communion is the best-known and largest church in the west. Over the years, that church has developed a complicated system and lengthy process which must be followed before anyone can be officially declared a saint. Previous to that, declarations of sainthood happened more informally and locally. But by the tenth century, the pope had secured control of all church canonizations, for in 1181, Pope Innocent III reserved all such declarations of sainthood to himself. Even then, it was not until the time of the Counter-Reformation in 1634 that a full process for canonization emerged, with nominations, judges, advocates, counter-advocates (the so-called �devil�s advocates�), trials, and the final verdict. And, of course, the whole process, as well as taking years, also took money to amass testimonials and keep the cause alive. A certain number of authenticated miracles were also required to push a candidate along the long path to being called �Blessed� (a kind of lesser rank of holiness) and then further along yet to actual sainthood. It was all very formal, and organized, and official, and lengthy, and expensive.

It was also very different than it was in the early church. The term �saint� of course simply means �holy one� (Greek agios), and was used by St. Paul to describe any baptized and faithful Christian. Certain people whose Christian faith was clearly authentic and whose lives merited wider attention, were called saints, or described as �holy� (e.g., not just �Paul�, but �holy Paul�). 

This of course included the martyrs, believers who had suffered for their Lord. There was no process of canonization required; the conviction and declaration of the local church that these people were truly holy was sufficient. Such was the credibility of the laity�s testimony, and the Church�s confidence that its faithful could discern true holiness when they saw it. If a church�s bishop was martyred, for example, the faithful treasured the story of their bishop�s heroic end and accorded him the appropriate honour. They would keep and venerate his relics, celebrate his martyrdom at its yearly anniversary, and ask for his heavenly intercession. It was a strictly local affair, and if other churches from neighbouring cities didn�t want to join in the acknowledgment of that bishop, they didn�t have to, and no one tried to make them. 

But examples of heroic holiness were rare enough, and usually the neighbouring churches were all too happy to acknowledge the sanctity and tell the story of any martyr. Such stories were shared with Christians in other cities, and sometimes relics were also shared, so that the martyr�s anniversary celebration in one city was sometimes kept in neighbouring cities as well.

Orthodoxy is heir to this local and informal practice of the early church. We are somewhat more formal than our ancestors were. Nowadays, a potential saint is discussed by the local synod of bishops, and discussions are held about whether or not to canonize him or her. Then the liturgical services are written, and the icon painted, and the day for official canonization (called the saint�s �glorification�) arrives. The final memorial service is said for him, and then prayers are no longer said for him, but rather to him. 

But even before this final episcopal process begins, the people still know whether or not the �candidate� is a saint. As in the earlier days, the Church still recognizes holiness when it sees it, and local �unofficial� veneration always precedes the �official� one. After all, it is God who makes saints, not bishops. And it seems clear enough that God has made twenty-one new saints in Libya lately. 

Whether or not the bishops give their official stamp of liturgical approval is almost irrelevant insofar as goes the love and veneration of the people of God. It seems likely that the bishops, whose divine task it is to lead the Church and be its liturgical voice, will respond by officially glorifying these martyrs. The laity have said Axios! and the bishops may well respond Amen!

Muslimah Media - The Firsts - Fatimah al-Fihri

Coptic Monks Lay Before Bulldozers to Protect Ancient Christian Site, Muslim Workers Yell �Allahu Akbar!�

by Raymond Ibrahim, February 25, 2015

A project to build a road around Fayum, Egypt, crosses the territory around the Coptic monastery of St. Macarius and threatens to destroy the ancient archaeological site around a church dating from the 4th century, or some 300 years before Islam was born and invaded Coptic Egypt.

In response, the monastery�s monks have objected with passive resistance � laying their bodies before the path of the bulldozers, which arrived with shouts of �Allahu Akbar� from the company drivers and workers (pictures above and below).

Previously the monks had submitted alternative plans that would allow for a road but also preserve Egypt�s ancient Christian site but authorities rejected them.

BREAKING: New ISIS Video threatens to slaughter Assyrian Christian hostages unless US stops bombing Islamic State forces

RECENT REPORTS PUT NUMBER OF HOSTAGES AS HIGH AS 400.

by Gianluca Mezzofiore, International Business Times
February 26, 2015

UPDATE TO STORY BELOW: The BBC has quoted a spokesman for the Syriac Military Council, A Christian militia fighting with the Kurdish forces (YPG), as saying that between 350 and 400 civilians have been abducted by IS militants. 

___

Islamic State (ISIS) militants who are holding about 150 Assyrian Christians hostage, including many women and children, are expected to release a video threatening to kill them if the US-led coalition airstrikes do not stop, activists and local officials report.

Jihadists attacked the village of Tal Shamiram, in the north-eastern Syrian province of al-Hasakah, at dawn and abducted dozens of people and took them to an Isis-held city named al-Shadadi.

In al-Shadadi, an Isis-held town in the same Hasakah province, IS militants placed women and children in different houses to use them as human shields in case of possible US-led airstrikes.

The jihadist group is expected to issue a video in which they address US president Barack Obama and threaten to kill all the Assyrian hostages if coalition airstrikes don't stop, Osama Edward, president of the Sweden-based Assyrian rights group, told IBTimes UK. 

CNN confirmed the report quoting local officials.

At least 500 families escaped the IS attack and fled to Qamishli and Hasakah city, where they found refuge in a church, Edward said.

"We're involved, many of them are friends and relatives," Edward said. "I'm trying not to get involved and be as objective and accurate as possible without surrender to personal feelings."

The United States condemned the Isis attack on the religious minority "in the strongest possible terms". "IS latest targeting of a religious minority is only further testament to its brutal and inhumane treatment of all those who disagree with its divisive goals and toxic beliefs. IS continues to exact its evil upon innocents of all faiths, and the majority of its victims have been Muslims," US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement.

The Assyrians, also known as Chaldeans, are an ancient ethnic group belonging to the Syriac Christianity and speaking Aramaic. The majority of those kidnapped are Catholics.

IOCC Assists Syrian Christians Traumatized in Deadly Attack

Exhausted and traumatized Christians from villages in northeastern Syria gather at an Orthodox Christian Church in Hasakah, seeking refuge after their small communities were terrorized this week. IOCC with its church partner, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (GOPA), is providing food, medical attention, and emergency aid to more than 1,000 displaced families. photo: IOCC/GOPA

Baltimore, MD (IOCC) Feb. 25, 2015 � Fleeing for their lives, more than 2,400 exhausted and traumatized Christians from northeastern Syria sought refuge in the towns of Hasakah and Qamishli after their small communities were terrorized this week. The attackers targeted a stretch of villages along the southern bank of the Khabour River, where they burned homes and churches, murdered a fleeing 16-year-old boy, and abducted 150 Assyrian Christian men, women and children from their homes.  [Recent reports estimate up to 400 held hostage, with ISIS threatening in a new video to slaughter 150 Christians unless US stops bombing Islamic State forces.] For those who managed to escape the attack and seek shelter in Hasakah, International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), with its church partner, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (GOPA), is providing food, medical attention, and emergency aid. IOCC/GOPA, which has offices in both Hasakah and Qamishli, is responding to the immediate needs of more than 1,000 displaced Syrian families seeking shelter at the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church in the Al Nasreh neighborhood of Hasakah with the distribution of food parcels, bedding, infant clothing and shoes. More than 600 of the survivors who fled the onslaught are children. IOCC, an ACT Alliance member, is one of the few humanitarian organizations inside Syria providing immediate assistance to displaced families and elderly who have endured four years of a brutal war. Working in 28 offices across Syria, IOCC has provided relief to 2.5 million vulnerable people inside Syria since 2012. HOW YOU CAN HELP  You can help the victims of poverty and conflicts around the world by making a financial gift to the International Emergency Response Fund which will provide immediate relief, as well as long-term support through the provision of emergency aid, recovery assistance and other support to help those in need. To make a gift, please visit iocc.org or call toll free at 1-877-803-IOCC (4622), or mail a check or money order payable to IOCC, P.O. Box 17398, Baltimore, MD 21297. ABOUT INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES  IOCC is the official humanitarian aid agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. Since its inception in 1992, IOCC has delivered $538 million in relief and development programs to families and communities in more than 50 countries. IOCC is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of more than 140 churches and agencies engaged in development, humanitarian assistance and advocacy, and a member of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.�based secular and faith-based organizations working to improve the lives of the world's most poor and vulnerable populations. To learn more about IOCC, visit iocc.org.

The First Victims of the First Crusade

 

THE first victims of the First Crusade, inspired in 1096 by the supposedly sacred mission of retaking Jerusalem from Muslims, were European Jews. Anyone who considers it religiously and politically transgressive to compare the behavior of medieval Christian soldiers to modern Islamic terrorism might find it enlightening to read this bloody story, as told in both Hebrew and Christian chronicles.

The message from the medieval past is that religious violence seldom limits itself to one target and expands to reach the maximum number of available victims.

Just as the Crusades were integrally linked to Roman Catholicism in the Middle Ages, terrorist movements today are immersed in a particular anti-modern interpretation of Islam. This does not imply that a majority of Muslims agree with violent religious ideology. It does mean that the terrorists� brand of belief plays a critical role in their savage assault on human rights.

Cultural ignoramuses portrayed President Obama�s references to the Crusades and the Inquisition at the recent National Prayer Breakfast as an excuse for Islamic terrorism, but the president�s allusions could and should have been used as an opportunity to reflect on the special damage inflicted in many historical contexts by warriors seeking conquest in the name of their god.

Times were hard in northern Europe when the crusaders began to gather in the spring of 1096. A disappointing harvest in 1095 had brought famine to the poor. As James Carroll observes in �Constantine�s Sword,� there is �no doubt the crusading impulse rescued many serfs, but also landowners, from desperate economic straits.�

Pope Urban II did not tell crusaders to murder Jews, but that is what happened when at least 100,000 knights, vassals and serfs, unmoored from ordinary social restraints but bearing the standard of the cross, set off to crush what they considered a perfidious Muslim enemy in a faraway land. Why not practice on that older group accused of perfidy � the Jews?

The city of Trier, on the Moselle River, was one of the early stops. The Jews were, according to a Hebrew chronicle, offered the choice of conversion, exile or death � similar to the choices offered by groups like the Islamic State and Boko Haram. After the Jews of Trier made an unsuccessful attempt, by paying off a bishop, to persuade the crusaders to bypass their community, they sought refuge in the prelate�s palace.

The chronicle recounts that �the bishop�s military officer and ministers entered the palace and said to them: �Thus said our lord the bishop: Convert or leave this place. I do not wish to preserve you any longer.� � It goes on: � �You cannot be saved � your God does not wish to save you now as he did in earlier days.� �

The anonymous author of the chronicle, known as Text S to scholars, probably did not witness all of the events he describes. However, scholars of the First Crusade generally consider the text authentic. Furthermore, Christian accounts � also most likely written decades later but at a time when many survivors would have been alive � tell essentially the same story.

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story
Albert of Aix, a Christian born in the late 11th century, describes atrocities in Mainz � another stop on the crusaders� rampage through the Rhineland � by a band headed by one Count Emico. Again, there is a bishop who initially promises the Jews protection for what Albert describes as an �incredible amount of money.� But Emico and his Christian soldiers broke into the hall where the Jews were held.

�Breaking the bolts and doors, they killed the Jews, about seven hundred in number, who in vain resisted the force and attack of so many thousands. They killed the women, also, and with their swords pierced tender children of whatever age and sex ... Horrible to say, mothers cut the throats of nursing children with knives and stabbed others, preferring them to perish thus by their own hands rather than to be killed by the weapons of the uncircumcised.�

Albert reports that a small number of Jews escaped because they agreed to be baptized �because of fear, rather than because of love of the Christian faith.� With all of the money taken from the Jews, Emico and �all that intolerable company of men and women then continued on their way to Jerusalem.�

This account highlights several elements analogous to the actions of modern terrorist groups. These include attempts at forced conversion; the murders of women and children; and the imposition of financial penalties on coerced converts who try to remain in their homes. Albert�s disparaging remarks about Emico also reveal that there were Christians who felt about the crusaders exactly the way many Muslims today surely feel if they are unlucky enough to find themselves in the path of violent lunatics.

In Mosul, the Iraqi city conquered by the Islamic State last June, Christians had coexisted for centuries with Muslims who did not share whatever medieval beliefs the terrorists claim to represent. The city was also home to the Yazidis, whose theology includes elements of Zoroastrianism as well as Islam and Christianity.

When the brutal warriors established control, thousands of Yazidis were forced to flee for their lives if they did not convert to Islam. Christians were also ordered to formally convert, pay taxes to Shariah courts or face �death by the sword,� without any possibility of escape.

Sound familiar?

Thomas Asbridge, director of the Center for the Study of Islam and the West at the University of London, commented in this newspaper that �we have to be very careful about judging behavior in medieval times by current standards.�

This issue is better judged from the other side of the looking glass. What we actually see today is a standard of medieval behavior upheld by modern fanatics who, like the crusaders, seek both religious and political power through violent means. They offer a ghastly and ghostly reminder of what the Western world might look like had there never been religious reformations, the Enlightenment and, above all, the separation of church and state.
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The Truth about the Crusades: Recent Scholarship reveals Noble and Self-Sacrificial Defense of Christendom against centuries of Islamic Invasion

Crusading was understood as an an act of love�in this case, the love of one�s neighbor. The Crusade was seen as an errand of mercy to right a terrible wrong. As Pope Innocent III wrote to the Knights Templar, �You carry out in deeds the words of the Gospel, 'Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends'."

Raymond Ibrahim, February 12, 2015

Were the Crusades a reflection of the �terrible deeds [done] in the name of Christ� as U.S. President Obama recently warned, or were they a reflection of something else, namely, centuries of Islamic jihad?  In the following essay, one of the top historians of the Crusades definitively answers the question.

Thomas Madden � former Chair of the History Department at Saint Louis University and Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies � wrote this article in 2002 when President Bush used the word �crusade� in a positive sense, creating controversy.  Its relevancy today is that Obama invoked the Crusades in a negative sense, also creating controversy.

Madden presents the most recent scholarship on the Crusades � scholarship that completely contradicts the popular image of these wars that permeates much of Hollywood, the writings of amateurs such as Karen Armstrong and, as seen, the worldview of Barack Obama.

(Due to its length (approximately 4000 words), only the most germane portions appear in the significantly shorter version below; especially relevant sentences and paragraphs are highlighted in bold, while removed text is reflected by bracketed ellipses.)

The Real History of the Crusades

Crisis Magazine

By Thomas Madden

[...]

Misconceptions about the Crusades are all too common. The Crusades are generally portrayed as a series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics. They are supposed to have been the epitome of self-righteousness and intolerance, a black stain on the history of the Catholic Church in particular and Western civilization in general. A breed of proto-imperialists, the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to the peaceful Middle East and then deformed the enlightened Muslim culture, leaving it in ruins. For variations on this theme, one need not look far. See, for example, Steven Runciman�s famous three-volume epic, History of the Crusades, or the BBC/A&E documentary, The Crusades, hosted by Terry Jones. Both are terrible history yet wonderfully entertaining.

So what is the truth about the Crusades? Scholars are still working some of that out. But much can already be said with certainty. For starters, the Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression�an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands.

Christians in the eleventh century were not paranoid fanatics. Muslims really were gunning for them. While Muslims can be peaceful, Islam was born in war and grew the same way. From the time of Mohammed, the means of Muslim expansion was always the sword. Muslim thought divides the world into two spheres, the Abode of Islam and the Abode of War. Christianity�and for that matter any other non-Muslim religion�has no abode. Christians and Jews can be tolerated within a Muslim state under Muslim rule. But, in traditional Islam, Christian and Jewish states must be destroyed and their lands conquered. When Mohammed was waging war against Mecca in the seventh century, Christianity was the dominant religion of power and wealth. As the faith of the Roman Empire, it spanned the entire Mediterranean, including the Middle East, where it was born. The Christian world, therefore, was a prime target for the earliest caliphs, and it would remain so for Muslim leaders for the next thousand years.

The Crusades "were not the brainchild of an ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of the old Christian world. At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that defense."

With enormous energy, the warriors of Islam struck out against the Christians shortly after Mohammed�s death. They were extremely successful. Palestine, Syria, and Egypt�once the most heavily Christian areas in the world�quickly succumbed. By the eighth century, Muslim armies had conquered all of Christian North Africa and Spain. In the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks conquered Asia Minor (modern Turkey), which had been Christian since the time of St. Paul. The old Roman Empire, known to modern historians as the Byzantine Empire, was reduced to little more than Greece. In desperation, the emperor in Constantinople sent word to the Christians of western Europe asking them to aid their brothers and sisters in the East.

That is what gave birth to the Crusades. They were not the brainchild of an ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of the old Christian world. At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that defense.

"Scholars have discovered that crusading knights were generally wealthy men [who] willingly gave up everything to undertake the holy mission... They did so not because they expected material wealth (which many of them had already) but because they hoped to store up treasure where rust and moth could not corrupt. 

"They were keenly aware of their sinfulness and eager to undertake the hardships of the Crusade as a penitential act of charity and love. Europe is littered with thousands of medieval charters attesting to these sentiments, charters in which these men still speak to us today if we will listen."

Pope Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom to push back the conquests of Islam at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The response was tremendous. Many thousands of warriors took the vow of the cross and prepared for war. Why did they do it? The answer to that question has been badly misunderstood. In the wake of the Enlightenment, it was usually asserted that Crusaders were merely lacklands and ne�er-do-wells who took advantage of an opportunity to rob and pillage in a faraway land. The Crusaders� expressed sentiments of piety, self-sacrifice, and love for God were obviously not to be taken seriously. They were only a front for darker designs.

During the past two decades, computer-assisted charter studies have demolished that contrivance. Scholars have discovered that crusading knights were generally wealthy men with plenty of their own land in Europe. Nevertheless, they willingly gave up everything to undertake the holy mission. Crusading was not cheap. Even wealthy lords could easily impoverish themselves and their families by joining a Crusade. They did so not because they expected material wealth (which many of them had already) but because they hoped to store up treasure where rust and moth could not corrupt. They were keenly aware of their sinfulness and eager to undertake the hardships of the Crusade as a penitential act of charity and love. Europe is littered with thousands of medieval charters attesting to these sentiments, charters in which these men still speak to us today if we will listen. Of course, they were not opposed to capturing booty if it could be had. But the truth is that the Crusades were notoriously bad for plunder. A few people got rich, but the vast majority returned with nothing.

Urban II gave the Crusaders two goals, both of which would remain central to the eastern Crusades for centuries. The first was to rescue the Christians of the East. As his successor, Pope Innocent III, later wrote:

How does a man love according to divine precept his neighbor as himself when, knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and in name are held by the perfidious Muslims in strict confinement and weighed down by the yoke of heaviest servitude, he does not devote himself to the task of freeing them? � Is it by chance that you do not know that many thousands of Christians are bound in slavery and imprisoned by the Muslims, tortured with innumerable torments?

�Crusading,� Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith has rightly argued, was understood as an �an act of love��in this case, the love of one�s neighbor. The Crusade was seen as an errand of mercy to right a terrible wrong. As Pope Innocent III wrote to the Knights Templar, �You carry out in deeds the words of the Gospel, �Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends.��

The second goal was the liberation of Jerusalem and the other places made holy by the life of Christ.

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It is often assumed that the central goal of the Crusades was forced conversion of the Muslim world. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the perspective of medieval Christians, Muslims were the enemies of Christ and His Church. It was the Crusaders� task to defeat and defend against them. That was all. Muslims who lived in Crusader-won territories were generally allowed to retain their property and livelihood, and always their religion. Indeed, throughout the history of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Muslim inhabitants far outnumbered the Catholics. It was not until the 13th century that the Franciscans began conversion efforts among Muslims. But these were mostly unsuccessful and finally abandoned. In any case, such efforts were by peaceful persuasion, not the threat of violence.

Whether we admire the Crusaders or not, it is a fact that the world we know today would not exist without their efforts. The ancient faith of Christianity, with its respect for women and antipathy toward slavery, not only survived but flourished. Without the Crusades, it might well have followed Zoroastrianism, another of Islam�s rivals, into extinction.

The Crusades were wars, so it would be a mistake to characterize them as nothing but piety and good intentions. Like all warfare, the violence was brutal (although not as brutal as modern wars). There were mishaps, blunders, and crimes. These are usually well-remembered today. During the early days of the First Crusade in 1095, a ragtag band of Crusaders led by Count Emicho of Leiningen made its way down the Rhine, robbing and murdering all the Jews they could find. Without success, the local bishops attempted to stop the carnage. In the eyes of these warriors, the Jews, like the Muslims, were the enemies of Christ. Plundering and killing them, then, was no vice. Indeed, they believed it was a righteous deed, since the Jews� money could be used to fund the Crusade to Jerusalem. But they were wrong, and the Church strongly condemned the anti-Jewish attacks.

Fifty years later, when the Second Crusade was gearing up, St. Bernard frequently preached that the Jews were not to be persecuted:

Ask anyone who knows the Sacred Scriptures what he finds foretold of the Jews in the Psalm. �Not for their destruction do I pray,� it says. The Jews are for us the living words of Scripture, for they remind us always of what our Lord suffered�. Under Christian princes they endure a hard captivity, but �they only wait for the time of their deliverance.�

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When we think about the Middle Ages, it is easy to view Europe in light of what it became rather than what it was. The colossus of the medieval world was Islam, not Christendom. The Crusades are interesting largely because they were an attempt to counter that trend. But in five centuries of crusading, it was only the First Crusade that significantly rolled back the military progress of Islam. It was downhill from there.

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From the safe distance of many centuries, it is easy enough to scowl in disgust at the Crusades. Religion, after all, is nothing to fight wars over. But we should be mindful that our medieval ancestors would have been equally disgusted by our infinitely more destructive wars fought in the name of political ideologies. And yet, both the medieval and the modern soldier fight ultimately for their own world and all that makes it up. Both are willing to suffer enormous sacrifice, provided that it is in the service of something they hold dear, something greater than themselves. Whether we admire the Crusaders or not, it is a fact that the world we know today would not exist without their efforts. The ancient faith of Christianity, with its respect for women and antipathy toward slavery, not only survived but flourished. Without the Crusades, it might well have followed Zoroastrianism, another of Islam�s rivals, into extinction.