Unfortunately, what is the case historically is that Christians actually aware of what was said and done in the Early Church are left out of the conversation - and those joining with Wheaton categorically show that they do NOT know what Christianity was about or what Christ actually said (especially when trying to pigeon-hole things in saying "I don't want solidarity with Muslims" and ignoring the many groups in scripture who had solidarity with Israel even when they were not Israel, from Midianites to Cyrus of Persia and many others). It is sad but it is what it is...
To be clear, I have shared my own thoughts elsewhere as it concerns the issue of Radical Islam and how we're to respond to it and take it seriously when it comes to violence (as seen
here and
here/
here/
here/
here,
herec and
here). Military intervention is not always the best and it is because of U.S military intervention that much of the crisis began in the first place....just as it did with Syria and other places (more
shared here and in
Cairo death poll passes 500).
Indeed, saying Radical Islam represents all Muslims (including those who've denounced the actions of radicals as apostasy/erroneous ) would be no different than others claiming the evils of other groups that do things in the name of Christ are somehow representing Christ (more shared
here and
here/
here).
I think it would be wise, for anyone claiming to want the heart of Christ when it comes to Muslims, to remember the example of St. Francis of Assisi - who lived during the Crusades (and even participated in some) but later chose not to due to realizing the error in it - and doing much in the Islamic world for the Lord by choosing to love/not demonize all Muslims instead of justifying hate for where others were off. And others have already done an excellent job on addressing the issue when it comes to ministry with Muslims worldwide - more said, as said before, in
Jesus the Messiah
Additionally, There's an amazing documentary on the issue which I thought was amazing - as seen in the following:
Additionally, One of the best reads on the issue which I would highly recommend is called
The Saint and the Sultan: the Crusades, Islam and Francis of Assisi’s Mission of Peace, which examines a little known encounter between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil of Egypt during the Crusades.
I would hope for all of us to remember that we - if claiming Christ - are not more wise than the Church.....although from what I've seen, many will even think of the experiences of St. Francis with the Sultan and immediately think "If the MUSLIMS weren't so violent, would we have these problems??!! No!!!" ....and then they are tempted to go bring up the Crusades...
And so, with that, it should be noted that the Crusades themselves were VERY complex - with others even pointing out how much ec
onomics made a world of difference when it came to the Crusades and the motivations
behind all sides in regards to monetary gains.
For as much as others are angry at the Muslims for what they did, I think it makes a difference when realizing what happened on the Christian side of things.
As said before, the Byzantine Christians - what we call Orthodox Christians - had never recognized the Pope's authority over their church, but both the Catholics and Orthodox Christians still recognized that they were part of the same church...and when the Byzantines were actively fighting against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Anatolia, they called out for aid from the West. To the Byzantines, what they were doing appeared to them to be akin to an act of Holy War (similar to what the Crusaders felt when saying it was "God's Will" for them to retake Jerusalem).
Pope Urban II saw an opportunity here which would allow him to get knights of Europe to help the Byzantines against the Moslems, and in return the two churches could make peace with one another and Christendom could be united..with land being gained by his forces and the West eventually in dominance. Thus, in 1095, the Pope began to preach Crusade - calling upon the Christians of Europe to defend their brethren against the Moslems and to expel the Moslems from the Byzantine empire, and if possible even make Jerusalem Christian again. ...but all of that backfired when the Crusaders began to atttack both Byzantines, Jews and other Muslims in the process.
And as offered elsewhere, for references:
Additionally, as it concerns discussion on the many Christian groups (i.e. Jacobites, Ghassanids, etc.) who WELCOMED the rise of the Muslims when the Byzantines were oppressing them and the Muslims were helping them gain independence, one may wish to investigate the work of others such as Dr. Philip Jenkins - who wrote many amazing reads on the issue such as "The Lost History of Christianity"..and other reads. He wisely pointed out how in the beginning stages of Islam, for m
any so-called heretics who were exiled/under the threat of death, such as the Monophysites, Muslim rulers were no worse than Christian Byzantine emperors, and less intrusive - with
Christians thriving for some time. More specifically, prior to the Crusades, the persecution of the Monophysites by Constantinople allowed the Muslims easy access into Syria and they welc
omed the tolerant Muslims with open arms, with Muslims being very tolerant of the divergent beliefs in the lands that they conquered.
THere were also others in the Eastern Empire who were just as violent/got control as well when it came to spiritual goals ..and there were PLENTY of organized assassinations/murders within the Eastern Empire to enforce control just as there was in the West. In example, I'm reminded of St. Mercurius' killing of Julian the Apostate after St. Basil prayed that he (Julian) not return from the war. He disappeared from the icon then reappeared with blood on his spear. The man, as well as many other soldiers, was represntative of monks in the spirit of Phineas from Numbers who killed the Israelite/Midianite in their tent for sexual relations.....for he as well as others were willing to use violent force to defend their country and religious beliefs--with the blessing of the Emperor.
Mercurius killed others whom he felt were not in line with the Lord, to my knowledge....his killing
of Julian being something he's most famous for since he felt it would help end Julian's attempts to slow the spread of Christianity.Again, there are many others besides him....in the same spirit as anyone from the Crusades. And many in the culture supported it. The early violence i
n the Republic of Rome was replicated in the Eastern Roman Empire since political violence appeared in the Byzantine Empire from 400 CE to 600 CE. As it concerns the Crusades, it's often forgotten that the wars started between the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic armies that were trying to conquer territories. Other Christ
ian groups such as the Ghassanids and the Nestorian Lakhmids rallied
to join the Muslims who were expanding since they were greatly mistreated under the Byzantine rule - even as it concerns violence done to them as others claimed Christ and harmed those who did not agree with their own idea of who Christ was. For r
eference(for a brief excerpt):
The Nestorians, the Maronites, the Melkites, Chaldeans, Jacobites, Anchorites, Arians, Ebionites, Paulicians, Assyriani and a host of other churches sprung up or were influenced by the hermits living in the deserts and mountains of Syria, all seeking and trying to explain the mystery of God, his love for humanity and his compassion for the salvation of our souls though the personage, whether dual or monophysite in nature, of Jesus the Christ.
So many of these individual churches evolved that the Byzantines, seeking religious unity for the purpose of an empirical dominance based in Constantinople, began to persecute these churches, primarily because of the monophysite/diophysite controversy (referring to the single or dual natures of Christ) as well as their refusal to accept the final verdicts of the council of Nicaea. One can visit the caves in central Turkey, in Cappadocia, to see where these Christians would have had to hide from marauding Byzantine raiding parties who would put to death any and all heretics who were unlucky enough to be caught. The Muslim Arab armies invaded the region at the request of the local Christians who formed a coalition called the Ghassanids. Oppressed under Byzantine tyranny, the Christians of Syria sought the protection of the Arab Muslims, fellow Semites who were far more lenient and tolerant than their fellow Christian Greek rulers of the eastern Roman empire.
Concerning the Byzantine reaction, there was NO problem with the Byzantine Empire waging what they felt to be Holy War against others who they deemed to not be submitted to the Lord---and once the wars were not going in their favor, they called in the West....which was also geared for War just as they were, except they had differing goals apart from simply removing the Muslim threat. When the West began to indiscrimately attack both Byzantines and Muslims as well as Jews, it was portrayed by many as if the West was simply aggressive while the East was solely for peace. But again, the East engaged in War and asked the West to get involved. As they continued to wage war, it could easily be said that the people of the East were just as geared toward war as people in the West.
And of course, prior to all of that,
many of the Church councils had it where the believers were QUITE violent (such as the Gangster Synod where other monastics were literally breaking fingers of others who wanted to sign agreements made when those people did not agree with them ). "Christians in the Middle Ages developed creative ways of torturing people during the Inquisition - where hundreds of thousands of Jews, witches, heretics, and others deemed to be "sinners" ended up being tortured and murdered in ways that would make ISIS soldiers seem pale by comparison - and the same goes for the Protestant Reformation /English Reformation as it concerns others deemed "herectics" who were burned one after another and for reference, one can go here to
21 Medieval Torture Devices That Seem Too Horrifying To Be Real and
Biblical Evidence for Catholicism: The Protestant Inquisition: "Reformation" Intolerance and Persecution and
Church Society - Issues - History - Ryle Reformers
All of that, ultimately, is noted to point out the reality that people need to not be so quick to throw out stereotypes of how all Muslims act just as they'd not like sterotypes of how all Christians act if it comes to the extremes. History is full of complications and we have to acknowledge that .....
