In Defense of the Crusades

About this sermon

Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com Real Crusades History Channel: https://youtube.com/c/RealCrusadesHistory Christians and Catholics are supposed to think of the Crusades with shame and regret. It’s the kind of thing that detractors mention when they want to put us in our place if we get too assertive, especially in the political sphere of life but I can honestly say that the Crusades don’t bother me. In saying that, I’m not saying that the evil or unjust things that happened during the crusades don’t bother me, but rather the fact that the Catholic Church called for the crusades and the fact that they took place in principle, from a Christian perspective, doesn’t bother me and I hope that by the end of this video, you’ll understand why. But I can already anticipate some of you saying that of course I’d take this position because I’m Catholic and biased towards a more flattering interpretation of all things Catholic. But, even if I am biased, it doesn’t follow that I’m wrong about my interpretation of these and other historical events related to the Church. To say that it does is to indulge the genetic fallacy which claims that an argument is invalid because of some perceived defect in its source. I can be biased and right at the same time. But I’d argue that whatever biases I do carry, they don’t come naturally to me. I was saturated in influences throughout my formative years that reinforced the same popular conclusions as most people which is that the Crusades are just one of many atrocities that shape the bad character of the medieval world and the Catholic Church. I was formally educated in this idea at school and it was relentlessly reinforced through popular culture in whatever superficial commentaries I would encounter or through movies like The Kingdom of Heaven which depict Medieval Christendom as a desaturated, dark, and superstitious society while the Islamic world, by contrast, is vibrant, tolerant, and prosperous. And any time the Crusades are mentioned, whether it’s in a YouTube pop education video or a Barack Obama speech, it’s taken for granted that it was a grave evil without ever considering or examining the details. That’s the first indication that something’s amiss – that everyone has a moral opinion about it, but very few people know any meaningful details about it. That’s the worst kind of ignorance. It’s like racism. You hate something you don’t understand because you’ve been taught to hate it. In my experience, it took a lot of personal study to overcome those same prejudices and they were dispelled not by forming new irrational prejudices clouded by ignorance, but by coming to terms with the actual historical facts that shaped those events. Part of the reason people are so easily swayed to think of the Crusades as a stain on the character of Christianity is because we tend to interpret things we don’t understand by associating them with things we do understand. And one general impression that a lot of people have about history, especially European history, is that in that far off time known as the olden days, white Europeans, were in the habit of attacking and colonizing peaceful nations composed of less pasty citizenry. And since we all have this general impression of history, it’s very easy for someone who doesn’t like Christianity or the Catholic Church to tell the story of the Crusades with very selective details which reinforces that narrative. And so it usually appears like this: In 1095, Pope Urban II with the aim of conquering peaceful Muslims in the Middle East because they were different, rallied all the principalities of Europe to align themselves in this cause and to march East. And so they did, joining up with the Byzantines along the way before arriving at Jerusalem in 1099 in which they captured the city and slaughtered everyone inside. But as I indicated, that’s a very selective presentation of the events. The truth is, the Crusades were primarily a defensive war waged as a response to hundreds of years of Islamic expansion and aggression against Christian peoples which was now threatening to overwhelm Europe. So when I say that the Crusades are a good thing, I mean that in the same way that the fact that the Allies decided to fight WWII against Nazi was a good thing. But the Allies committed war crimes and killed countless civilians in their campaigns against the Axis powers. Yes, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean that the war itself was, in principle, wrong. They had every moral right to fight back because if they hadn’t, you and I would be goosestepping our way to and from work and school shouting Heil Hitler every chance we get – assuming that our ancestors weren’t gassed. So the question of the crusades, for me, isn’t did bad things happen. It’s mhether or not the crusaders were right in choosing to fight that war at all.