DECLARING WAR ON ISLAM: Fruit of an Apostate Church

"Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over two hundred years ago the United States had declared war on Islam, and Thomas Jefferson led the charge!"

This bit of ignorance is from a chain email designed to promote fear and loathing of Muslims. The Politifact site has a well reasoned rebuttal. And yes I know that fact check sites themselves need to be fact checked, which I did.

For a less shrill take on the Barbary Pirates, I recommend Brian Kilmeade's book on the subject. A great read, like a novel, but well researched. I found it to be slanted towards support for interventionist foreign policy, but with that caveat it's still a fact filled introduction to the subject for our history deficient culture.

Thomas Jefferson didn't declare war on Islam. That's as silly and ignorant as saying he was against Christianity because he collected some of Jesus's words in a book.

If corsairs sent by Muslim states meant that Islam is our enemy, then Christian and Jewish involvement in the African slave trade meant the other two monotheistic faiths are enemies as well. That would be absurd, but also logically consistent. And that is the danger of anti Muslim hysteria - it easily boomerangs against us Christians, and historically Jews end up being victimized by both Christians and Muslims when these religious wars occur. The Crusades being an example.

Last but not least. Most of the anti Muslim hysteria comes from Trump supporters. So, here's a question for Trump supporters who think Islam is the top threat to civilization: why is President Trump selling $billions worth of advanced weapons to the Saudis, who for three centuries have allied with Wahhabists, the actual leading sponsors of jihadist terror?

Nationalism, Crusades, and Anti-Semitism

Just learned that today is both Holocaust Remembrance Day and the March for Life. The latter is on a different date each year, the former is always on January 27, commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in 1945.

Many seem to think that the Nazis rose to power in some backward, unrefined place.

But Germany in the 1930's was the most educated country in the world, according to historian Paul Johnson. A culturally advanced, learned people allowed a monster to take control of the government, and two state supported churches - Catholic and Lutheran - helped the regime scapegoat Jews. Thank God for some exceptions (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Confessing Church), but the sad truth is that anti-Semitism has its historical roots in "Christian" churches.

If the church doesn't exist to stop tyranny like Hitler, what is the church here for? I am not reassured by the blind allegiance to Trump among Evangelicals - the spirit of nationalism is foul smelling and not easily reined in once loosed.

I've been studying the Crusades lately, and learning some things I didn't want to know.

To wit:

In 1095, Pope Urban II called Christians to a crusade to take Jerusalem from the Muslims. En route, the Crusaders learned to love killing, including entire Jewish villages. They started out hating the Muslims as "enemies of Christ" and along the way many of them decided that Jews were "enemies of Christ" as well. These demonic hordes, marching in the name of our Lord, were the source of blood libels and pogroms, and the evil and stupid idea of blaming all Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus.

When the Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem in 1099, they not only slaughtered Muslims within the city, but also Jews as well. The Muslims had banned Christians because they were regarded as polytheists for adhering to the doctrine of the Trinity.

Interesting to me is the fact that Jews were banned from Jerusalem until Muslims retook the city in 1187. Saladin invited them back to the city, and also allowed Christians from Greek and Eastern churches to remain, because they had not persecuted Muslims.

It seems that anti-Semitism has been more prevalent among "Christians" throughout history than it has been among Muslims, with notable exceptions.

Spiritually speaking, I observe the same filthy spirit in today's anti-Muslim crusade as inhabited the anti-Muslim crusades of the middle ages. I hope it doesn't redound to a new wave of anti-Semitism, although it apparently already has in parts of Europe. There were neo-Nazis among those who staged the Ukrainian coup that our government and NATO backed during Hillary Clinton's tenure at the State department. It also is not helpful for our government and evangelical Christians to blindly support Netanyahu's oppression of Palestinians, or the demonization of the entire Persian/ Iranian race.

This is a heart issue. Stereotyping of any one ethnic or religious group tends to snowball into hatred of other groups. Pope Urban II called forth a mob against Muslims. He didn't intend for the mob to go after Jews, but he was powerless to restrain the juggernaut he had launched.

Do we ever learn?

The answer is blowing in the wind?