Christians think of Palestine and other places connected with the life of Jesus as the Holy Land. In the seventh century, Muslim Arabs conquered Palestine. In the eleventh century Seljuk Turks took Palestine and threatened the Byzantine Empire, who asked for help from the Roman Catholic Church. At the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for a crusade (a military expedition against enemies of the Church) against the Seljuk Turks.

My personal feelings on the Crusades are that they should happen. I feel that the Holy Land belongs to us, Christians, and we should have it back in our possession. The Holy Land is where our savior Jesus Christ was born and lived throughout his life. The Muslims took the land from us when we had it first. It is not right that they hold something in their possession that is so dear to us and that we rightfully have the claim to. We should go in and take it back. Even though that is what I believe, arguments about the Crusades can go both in favor of and against them. People who are in favor of the Crusades will argue that the Turks should not threaten the Christian Church. They also hope that the Crusades will reunite the Christian Church. The Crusades also have the possibility of increasing the prestige of the Church and reducing feudal warfare. Most of all, Christians will argue that the Holy Land belongs to them, and this is a way to retake what is rightfully theirs.

People who are against the Crusades will argue that there is no guarantee that something will get accomplished. They would say that after years of fighting, the situation might not be any different than it is at the present time. Also, they would argue that a tremendous amount of people will most certainly die, and it would be better to try and work out some kind of deal than it would be to rush in and fight. These people would most probably argue that the Holy Land is full of riches and the Roman Catholic Church’s sole reason for attacking it is just to gain those riches.

Pope Urban II could have ulterior motives for calling on the Crusades, though. He knows that industry and trade greatly increase during times of war. If the Crusades happen, it could be very good for the economy, and he knows it. It is also good for the morale of the people in the Roman Catholic Church. If their soldiers win back the Holy Land from the Muslims, it would hugely increase the morale of the people. There should also be a question about his wanting to increase the power and prestige of the Church. While he could say that it is to more easily spread the word of God, it could just be a power-hungry man wanting as much control as he can have. Also, even though Christians do want to recapture the Holy Land because it is where their Savior was born and raised, Urban might (as some people say) also be thinking of the riches that are in the Holy Land. While Urban gives true reasons for his wanting the Crusades, there may be other underlying reasons that are not so honorable or ethical that also dictate why he wants them. For example, Urban says he wants to recapture the Holy Land because his Savior was born and raised there, but there is also much wealth in the Holy Land that he gets if he reclaims it. You can not be totally sure of the true reasons for his wanting the Crusades.

Pope Urban II referred to the first Crusade as a "holy pilgrimage." It was a pilgrimage in that way because it was a journey of exalted importance to a sacred place in the Christian religion. That is what a pilgrimage is (as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary). A pilgrimage should be sought for reasons strictly having to do with a specific religion, though. Some of the reasons behind this "pilgrimage" could have been not so moral. Some of them could have had to do more with money, power, and increased economic productivity than they did the Christian religion. In that way, it kind of wasn’t a pilgrimage. Thinking about it like that, it could have almost been described as a raid or a kind of invasion. Overall, though, I believe it could be considered a pilgrimage because it was a journey of great importance to a sacred place, regardless of the reasons for going there.