You Go First, Abdullah

Muslims are demanding an apology for the Crusades:

The world's highest Sunni Muslim authority has demanded an official apology from the pope for the medieval Christian crusades.

Thomas F. Madden, author of "A Concise History of the Crusades," contends the Crusades "were in every way a defensive war."

"They were the West's belated response to the Muslim conquest of fully two-thirds of the Christian world," he wrote in a National Review column. "While the Arabs were busy in the seventh through the tenth centuries winning an opulent and sophisticated empire, Europe was defending itself against outside invaders and then digging out from the mess they left behind. Only in the eleventh century were Europeans able to take much notice of the East. "
Madden said the event that led to the crusades was the Turkish conquest of most of Christian Asia Minor, modern Turkey.

"The Christian emperor in Constantinople, faced with the loss of half of his empire, appealed for help to the rude but energetic Europeans. He got it. More than he wanted, in fact," wrote Madden, associate professor and chair of the Department of History at Saint Louis University.

This is not a defense of the crusades. Personally, I have a lot of problems with the way they were carried out. But Madden is dead-on in his assessment. In fact, I don't think he's harsh enough. Read his book, though, if you have a chance. It's a great general overview of why the crusades were launched.

When drawing a judgment on the crusades, one should keep in mind that when the First Crusade was preached, Islamic conquests of Christian territories had been in full swing for over 450 years. The Jihad against the West was a long and bloody affair. It never truly has ended. The crusades were a complex series of wars. But foreign excursions purely for the slaking of imperialistic lust they were not.

As for apologies, I think the papacy should apologize for the crusades when the Muslims apologize for the jihad. Apologies should be extended, when they account for:

1. The taking of the Holy Land, at great loss of life.

2. The conquest of the largely Christian (at the time) populace of North Africa.

3. The toppling of the Byzantine Empire.

4. The conquest and subsequent raping of the Balkans.

5. Further, persistent invasions of Eastern Europe.

6. The invasion and occupation of Spain, which led to a centuries-long counterpunch by the Europeans, known as La Reconquista.

7. Other assorted mass slaughters, pillaging, and hostile forays into Christian territory.

The list goes on, ad nauseum. It would not be a difficult task to write a book merely numbering the unwarranted atrocities commited by Islamic invaders.

After centuries of unprovoked aggression before the Christians made their first moves, I think the apology needs to start with Islam. Not the papacy.