The Crusades
Saint Louis IX
Myth: the
crusades were aggressive military actions against peace-loving Muslims.
Truth: Islam
has never been a peaceful religion. It
is impossible to take the Koran at face value and still think that Islam is a
peaceful religion.
Muslims spread their religion by the sword. Islam means submission, and according to
Islam, we are God’s slaves, not His children.
All of the Mediterranean area was under Christian rule when Islam
began. Within 200 years of the birth of
Islam, two-thirds of the Mediterranean area was under Muslim control, and many
Christians were killed. The first
crusade was launched in response to a desperate plea from Constantinople to
defend against the invading Muslims. The
only areas invaded by Crusaders had been Christian-controlled before they were
forcefully taken by Muslims, and all of the Crusades were begun by people of
faith.
The
Inquisitions
Joan of Arc
Myth: the Inquisition was a huge intimidating part
of the Church that tortured non-Catholics.
Truth: the Inquisitions were investigations into
allegations of heresy within the
Catholic Church. They sought to rid the
Church of heretical teachings. They
never touched outsiders.
Many criminals chose to commit religious crimes in order to avoid
the civil authorities, because the courts of the Inquisition were more
merciful! A few hundred people died in
all of the Inquisitions.
The Albigensian Inquisition dealt with a heresy in the South of
France that held that flesh is evil, and that marriage should be outlawed. It denied the humanity of Christ.
The Spanish Inquisition dealt with converts to Christianity
from Islam and Judaism. These converts
converted as Moorish Spain fell and Catholicism once again became the dominant
religion, so their allegiance to Catholicism was more due to the political
situation than to their faith.
The Inquisition of the 1500-1600s dealt with
heretical teachings of professed Catholics.