Robert Spencer of "Jihad Watch" and other anti-Islam/anti-Muslim propagandists in their attack on Islam go so far as to revise the History of the Crusades though this revisionism is to a great extent a return to the way that Western historians before the modern era characterized the Crusades as a necessary war against the Evil Muslims. They claimed that the Holy Land belonged to the Christians and that Islam had no right to The holy Land or Jerusalem. In their revised view the Christian Crusaders were on a "Noble Quest" and acted with honor whereas they claim the Muslims acted as savages and barbarians. In the view of the Muslims the Christians were the barbarians .
For instance the purported reason for the Pope calling for a Crusade in 1097 was a call for help from Constantinople. But by the time the Crusaders reached the city the foreign invaders had already been expelled from Jerusalem.When they finally recaptured Jerusalem they butchered most of the Inhabitants which included Muslims, Jews and Christians. The Jews were locked in a Temple then burned alive. The remaining Muslims were locked into a Mosque and then slaughtered since they had no weapons.
The HOLY CRUSADES "First Crusade: Jerusalem" (part 17)
Crusaders Boiling people alive
and talk about savagery
THE HOLY CRUSADES "1st: Antioch to Jerusalem"
amore balanced & historically accurate view of the Crusades than that of Christian Apologist or their "Fellow Travelers such as Robert Spencer of "Jihad Watch"
Robert Spencer - The Crusades, Fact & Truth (Part 1/5)
Robert Spencer presents an apologetic on the Crusades. Christians he believes were justified to invade the Middle East to retake land they lost a couple of centuries earlier. Given his argument then Native Americans would be justified in retaking land taken from them just two centuries ago. That is Native Americans should be given back the land they had at the time of creation of the United States of America and Mexicans should therefore insist on retrieving the land they lost ie Texas, Arizona, California etc.
One of the reasons Robert Spencer feels it is necessary to back the Christian Crusade is that he and others who support Israel unconditionally believe Palestine as such was given to the Jewish people by God some 2500 years ago as "The Promised Land". So other people such as Arabs or Persians therefore have no right to this land even if they had occupied Palestine for the last 1300 -1400 years.
So the so called legal and rational argument about the rebirth of Israel is based upon what is said in the Bible, the Talmud and Torah- only the law derived from these sacred and Holy sources have any validity. So it is no wonder the Israeli settlers Movement believes they are justified in kicking all non Jews out of the Occupied Territories. Present day Israel given this "Divine Sanction" is therefore not compelled to uphold the rights of any-non Jew or Non-Israelite in their "Domain". The non-Jews in Israel have no rights and therefore can be treated by Jewish Israelis anyway they wish.
And from the Conservative Evangelical Fundamentalist point of view if Israel can be denied the territory given to it by God then God's word is therefore not binding which means the Bible can not be taken literally and as inerrant.Therefore one can raise doubts about the veracity of the Bible both old and New Testament and that it lends itself to various interpretations.
Robert Spencer who is Jewish doesn't seem to get the irony of his defending the Christian Crusaders who no only slaughtered Muslims but also Christian heretics and the Jews living in Europe or in the Holy Land. The Crusaders at times treated all Christians living in the Holy Land as being heretics and traitors to Christianity by daring to live somewhat peacefully in Islamic dominated states or nations.
Robert Spencer's defense of Christianity also appears to ignore that anti-Semitism is embedded in Christianity from its very beginnings. It is not the Romans who are blamed for the death of the Nazarene but rather the Jews of Jerusalem. This act is referred to as "Deicide" the murder of God and God in return we are told put a terrible curse on all Jews that they would wander the world without a home and be persecuted by all nations and peoples.
The 2,000 years of anti-Semitism led to the killing and oppression of millions of European Jews sometimes killed by Crusaders or by Christian Mobs in Pogroms during the last 1,000 thousand years or so . The Jews were kept out of the various professions or Guilds, they were at times segregated into over-crowded Ghettos and locked in at night. At various times one nation or another would expel all Jews ie England , Spain etc. or they were made to convert or die or be expelled. Those who converted were often harassed and persecuted for practicing Jewish customs and rituals in secret. The Church sanctioned most of this oppression of European Jews and when the reformation came Martin Luther and other protestant Reformers also preached against the Jewish people.
In the end this embedded virulent anti-Semitism was turned into the "Jewish Conspiracy" which meant that the Jews as a :Race" were no longer just a separate religion but were in fact pursuing the secular goal of controlling all of Europe at first secretly and eventually once they would have risen to power openly. The Jews were turned into an all powerful threat to Christendom and to those who ruled in Europe and that they were behind the various radical political and social reform movements such as Liberalism, Marxism, Communism, Anarchism, egalitarianism, socialism, Feminism.
This suspicion and hatred of the Jews and characterizing Judaism as really a form of Devil worship led inevitably to the NAZI engineered Shoah/Holocaust.
The Nazis and the German people were not the only ones who were virulently anti-Semitic. Most Europeans & The Soviet Union and Americans and Canadians were anti-Semitic to a greater or lesser degree. This is why so many nations did not welcome the Jewish refugees of Germany and Europe and so save a mere remnant. The Church Catholic & Protestant had taught that the Jews could be persecuted but never completely destroyed because a remnant must survive in order to continue to suffer and witness the rise of Christianity and to be witnesses in the last days when Jesus the Christian Messiah would return.
Many antiSemites in the 19th & 20th centuries blamed "liberalism" and its pernicious views on "tolerance" the liberal laws for allowing the European Jews to enter into the mainstream of European society and because of their cunning way the Jews supposedly were "The Hidden Hand" of political and social changes taking place. Everything wrong with Europe or with Russia was all blamed on the Jews.
Now anti-Semitism is no longer acceptable and so for the Ultra -Conservativists, Nationalist , Nativists who believe Western Culture is superior to all others and that Judeo-Christian values are responsible for the great achievements of Western Civilization. So they are concerned about allowing "foreign elements and culture and values entering and undermining Western Civilization and Christendom. It is has been said that a culture, a society, a Nation needs an enemy to focus on in order to maintain itself. Once again especially since 9/11 Muslim Terrorists attacks these UltraConservatives and their Christian and Jewish "Fellow Travelers " are now promulgating the theory not just that a small minority of fanatics under the guise of Islam are involved in a bloody Jihad against America and the West but rather that it is Islam itself which is inherently by its scriptures and its very nature is violent and its followers are driven as it is their duty to destroy all other religions. This creation of a "conspiracy theory" in which Muslims are taking over the West by a violent bloody Jihad but also by a "Stealth Jihad" .
The "Stealth Jihad" works brilliantly as a "Conspiracy Theory" because like all such "Conspiracy Theories" there is no way to disprove it because of its self creating all encompassing premises and conclusions. Muslims are either fighting in the open on the battlefield or fight using Gurrila tactics or using "Suicide Bombers" but even more pernicious is their "Stealth Jihad" so the Muslims in the West who appear to be assimilating and act as loyal to the Nations in which they live -secretly so the "Conspiracy Theory " goes are biding their time to either commit violent acts or to sow chaos or by stealth to permeate at all levels the government institutions and public institutions to undermine Western Judeo-Christian values to prepare for their control and the universal enforcement of "Sharia" laws.
So in the same way it is believed by anti-semites that there is or was a Jewish Conspiracy to take over Christendom that paranoid bigoted view is now transferred to "Islam".
here's a BBC series on the Crusades a more balanced & historically accurate view of the Crusades than that of Christian Apologists or their "Fellow Travelers such as Robert Spencer of "Jihad Watch"
THE HOLY CRUSADES;
The First Crusade: Cannibals
"Pilgrims in Arms" Antioch to Jerusalem
By Monty Python's Terry Jones
(Part 16 of however many God wants)
Christian Characters:
Emperor Alexius, Pope Urban II, Peter the Hermit, Peasants, Knights and other Christians
"Pagan" Characters: Jews & Muslims & Eastern Orthodox Christians
The purpose is to show parallels between Old War "Quagmires" & Modern War "Quagmires", because so often people dont realize there is so much more to "Winning a War" than what happens on any battlefield regardless of how many battles there are. Unless people are willing to entirely slaughter the other people (which is almost impossible because there will always be a few left), the Victory really comes for the "Military in Control" with negotiation agreements.
Re-Edited by Drogo
[from History Channel]
and here's a follow up on yesterdays post video of militant Evangelical Christian Elijah ministries Rusty Thomas
His themes:
Homosexuality Gay Rights
Abortion Feminism
Men as the true leaders of Christianity in the church,in society and in the family
Rachel Park Memorial
Islam and Mosques in America
God's judgement going against America
America has turned it back on God
America has become more Pagan in its beliefs
reform the Church
The Church is the real means to bring about the change needed
Thom confronts Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas on the Christian bootcamp "Spiritual Warfare" for Teenagers?
http://www.elijahmin.com/ Elijah ministries Rusty Thomas
and so it goes,
GORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment