The Christian crusades of the Middle Ages were one of the greatest evils ever carried on in the history of the world. Oh, I know, I know. It was nothing compared to the holocaust, right? The crusades were just wars where one country was trying to get land from another country, right?
Wrong.
I would argue that the crusades were worse than the holocaust and all other wars. Why? Because the crusades were carried out in the name of Jesus and under the banner of the church. Though numerous evils occur in this world, they become exponentially more evil when done in the name of Jesus.
Which is worse? Rape, or raping someone in the name of Jesus? It does happen. Some men treat their wives like crap, and then when the woman doesn’t want to sleep with him, he rapes her, quoting 1 Corinthians 7:4-5: “The wife does not have authority over her own body; but the husband does,” and “Do not deprive one another…”
Which is worse? Killing babies, or killing them in the name of Jesus? Again, this happens also. We have all read news stories about parents who kill their children because they thought Jesus was telling them to do so. That is not Jesus; that is pure evil.
Which is worse? Going to war, or going to war in the name of Jesus? War is bad enough, but when we go forward to kill and conquer others for the cause of Christ, we are not following Jesus but the devil instead.
The New Christian Crusade
So I was shocked and outraged to learn about a new “Crusade” that is starting to take place in Uganda under the guise of Christianity and bearing the name of Jesus. It is a new “Holy War” for Jesus where Christians are going out to kill other people because those people live a certain way. And before we too quickly blame African Christians for such barbaric behavior, it is American Christians who are going over to Africa to teach and encourage the Christians there to engage in this bloody and murderous crusade.
There is a documentary coming out this week about this newest Christian crusade. It is called “God Loves Uganda.” Here is the preview:
I have looked at some of the comments on this video on other blogs, and it is shocking to me how some Christians try to defend what is going on in Africa at the hands of Christians.
I read one person who said, “They’re gay and under the curse of God!” WHAT? Even if that were true (it isn’t), that gives you the right to kill them? Such an idea is Satanic.
Another person said that what the Ugandan Christians were doing is nothing compared to what the Muslims are doing or what Kony is doing. So…. our standards of behavior are now Muslim extremists and Kony? Whatever happened to following the ways of Jesus?
Look, I am sure there are extenuating circumstances in Uganda that I know nothing about. I am sure that the makers of this film had some sort of agenda. I am sure that some of the people who kill others in the name of Jesus are not really Christians.
But I don’t care about any of that.
As long as there are Christians who teach people to hate others because of their lifestyle, politics, or skin color, there must be other Christians who stand up and denounce such behavior as having absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ or His church.
Where do You Stand?
If you want to read more about this film and it’s director, Roger Ross Williams, I recommend an interview he did here with the Sundance Film Festival. Here is one thing he said:
It’s OK to believe that homosexuality is not God’s way, but it’s not OK to condone or support or even look the other way when there’s violence against LGBT people. Many of the Evangelicals who are missionaries in Uganda, even though they’re not directly participating in violence, will look the other way and pretend it’s not happening. If you’re a Christian you don’t condone violence against anyone, but they’re not standing up. American Evangelicals have a huge amount of influence in Uganda.
I do not know if there were Christians who stood up and condemned the Crusades against the Muslims in the Middle Ages, but I, for one, stand up and condemn the Crusade against Gays in our own day. Where do you stand?
The light of the body is in the eye. Look into the eyes of the preachers even on the trailer. It is darkness. There is no security there. The movement is obviously not ‘in God’ or ‘in Christ’.
This may be religion, but not the love of Christ. Do not followers of Jesus show love, even to those they perceive to be their enemies? Even to those they consider lost?
Even though there are many reasons for the decline of the church in the West, this continued hatred of certain people only adds fuel to the fire of rejecting not only the church, but also the God presumed by many to be behind the actions of these extremely misguided people.
If the USA restricts the sale of tobacco products, then let us foist our poison on the people of other countries. If the USA is restricting certain behaviors toward LGBT people, then let us export our poisonous attitudes. When the people to whom we’ve exported our poisons come to understand what we sent them, might they choose to throw out not only those things, but also the church that was taken to them? Might not this campaign against gays be the ultimate undoing of the church in the West and in those places to which the church was taken?
Yes, religion often breeds hate, as it separates those whom God “loves” from those whom God “hates.” And if God hates somebody, then so must we. And if God is going to kill them forever in hell, then maybe it is best to send them on their way….
So sad. It looks nothing like Jesus.
While I agree on not spreading hatred amongst others, would it not be the same the other way around? I won’t defend if someone is spreading hatred against any one.
But the film maker will cut and paste this movie as he likes, I know just a little bit about movies and documentary movie making, and you can always bring people in a bad day light by cutting and pasting.
Do this people really say go out and kill LGBT people or is this already in the culture and does the preaching and witnessing of this christians help this culture to do what they already wanted to do?
What I do condemn is that christains go to other country’s any of them and say they do a evangelical crusade, like benny hinn does, I hate that, these people don’t understand any thing of what happen in the dark ages.
To me it is hard to love gay people because of abuse happened to me by one of them. But I would never tell anybody to go out and kill them. And so should any christian not do that.
Taco,
Yes, I recognized this could be a problem. Like all those Michael Moore documentaries….
I do know that LGBT people are the “scapegoats” for many Christians these days. They think that gay people are the cause for Sodom’s destruction, and so if bad things happen to the world today, it must be because of gay people. So to save the world, we have to rid the world of the gays. It’s a twisted view, but some hold it.
For the record, my wife and I were in Syria in 1999. I was on a power station commissioning project not far from Homs. We found the Syrians very approachable and hospitable. What did surprise us was their attitude to the Crusades of the Middle Ages. They had long and bitter memories of the atrocities committed all those years ago. We were surprised that the Muslim people took us into their hearts and loved is in spite of our Christian principles and attitudes. But they would let us pray with and for them. We are devastated that the country is in the middle of a Civil war.
Wow. That is amazing. I wonder how many Christians would take Muslims into their home today, and let Muslims pray for us?
I don’t know enough about the Christians shown here to draw any clear conclusions, but I must admit to being a little wary of such presentations because I’m sure that someone could put a trailer together with quotes, video cuts and music from my own church family that made it appear we want to rid the world of all ‘sinners’. It doesn’t mean that we want to. Sound bites are dangerous things when wielded by someone with an agenda.
Still, I will agree with your primary point, Jeremy, that anything hateful done in Jesus’ name is a horror and we who love Jesus and His gospel must speak in opposition to it. Don’t we want Muslims to condemn violence done in the name of Allah? We must do the same as Christians because our Master compels us to do so for His gospel’s sake – as well as for the sake of those who might suffer at another proclaimed Christian’s hands.
Yeah, I am a little wary of it too. Documentaries can skew the facts. I will still probably watch it though.
And you make a great point about violence done in the name of Jesus. Yes, if violence is being done in His name, we must stand up and condemn it.
Ah, religion.
The politically correct way of describing mental illness.
Absolute psychotic delusion.
Nothing else has caused so much misery and catastrophe in all of history.
Yes, religion is guilty for much bloodshed and misery over the years.
But don’t forget, atheism led to much of what Russia and Germany did in both World Wars. This doesn’t mean atheism is worse than religion. It just means it is probably not the answer to religion.
Jeremy. Why do you think that the word has changed into only love for all sins . it hasn’t . a sin is a sin . we got free will . and the bible is what is today and forever . it means what it said and said what it means . I love everyone that I can . but I wouldn’t be around alotcof gay stuff. Because I don’t have to free will. It tells you to not condone to the world. So you need to study that. You can forgive a sinner .but you done have to condone to their worldly ways. Would I be mean or disrespeful to them .no I love them but I don’t go and break bread or hit their bars up . so please stop trying to Pacific everything. I have a guy that left a ministry I was in turned gay and try to turn the word around on me.
Eponentially would infer a mathematical correlation to the nature of wrong doing and evil jeremius dear fellow. Not at all acquiessing to that particular formulation of the derivitave nature of evil old chap.
Ehhh. Don, t spellcheck that post please. Lol
And stop Pacificing. Lol lol lol. Sorry above. Couldn’t resist a chuckle. Know your being serious but just couldn’t help myself.
All this talk about gay and lgbt stuff. Seriously. Personally I believe it is a slight case of putting square pins in round holes. But let’s not get to uppity about it and take moral highground. The statistics on masterubstion and sexual fetish, s give fairly interesting results along the same line as square and round pins. We are human beans with lots of shades between black n white. But we all survive on love. The definition of love is a tricky one though.
The Crusade were a response to the growing power of the Islamic Empire. To the church, it seemed that their way of life was threatened as the Muslims had invaded Europe. The Europeans had to defend themselves at the Battle of Tours. Spain had already been conquered by the Islamic Empire. The Muslims were at the doorstep of Europe. The only way that Europe thought they could survive was to retaliate against the enemy.
This is not worse than the Holocaust. The Holocaust was unprovoked and targeted only innocent people. The Crusaders definitely caused atrocities in the Middle East. The Crusades only happened in defense of Christianity. The Holocaust is worse because there was no point to it. I’m not justifying the atrocities in the Crusades, just the action took by Europe.