--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Very borglike on the part of some Islamic fundies (although they are > > not by any means representative of all of Islam, just as Xtain > > fundies, numerous as they are, do not represent all of Christianity), > > just like European Christians who fought -- how many was it again? -- > > "There were many different crusades. The most important and biggest > > Crusades happened from the 11th century to the 13th century. There > > were 9 big Crusades in this time. They are numbered 1 through 9. > > There were also many smaller Crusades. Some crusades were even within > > Europe (for example, in Spain and France). The smaller Crusades > > continued to the 16th century, until the Renaissance and > > Reformation. > > The thing you are leaving out, Bob, is that two > of these Crusades were against *fellow Christians*, > the Cathars. The two Albigensian Crusades were for > the specific purpose of practicing genocide against > fellow Christians who deviated from the Roman dogma > and refused to acknowledge Rome as "authority." Not > to mention conquest of territory and theft of their > property. The Crusaders and the Inquisition killed > an estimated 250,000 of them in the name of God. > > The three things promised to Crusaders -- their > "enlistment bonus," as it were -- were: 1) guaranteed > Heaven...nothing they had done previously in life or > for the rest of their lives would be considered a sin; > 2) they could keep anything they could steal; and > 3) while any member of their family was on Crusade, > none of their debts could be collected. The last > promise was the reason that most families in Europe > signed up one or more of their sons for the Crusades; > they were in hock up to their eyeballs, and were > anxious for those debts not to be collected. > > I'm not arguing with your premise that Christians have > as bad or worse a history of warfare and genocide as > Muslims and Jews; I'm merely pointing out a detail, > that their real *reasons* for the genocide and warfare > were neither altruistic nor limited to one opposing > religion. It was a case of "us vs. them," with "them" > being anyone who stood in the way of "us" getting what > they wanted. >
> > The word "Crusade" is related to the word "Cross", and means a > > Christian holy war. > > See above. How "holy" were the Crusades in reality? > ************ Well, those gawdam Cathars had it coming to them, but otherwise not so much.
