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The Confederate Lawyer
July 20, 2012
Modern Day
Crusaders Needed to Protect
Religious Liberties Worldwide
by Charles G. Mills
fitzgerald griffin foundation
GLEN COVE, NY — The religious liberties of Christians in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia — which have been shrinking for years — are now doing so at an accelerating rate. The U.S. State Department has done nothing about this, largely because it is paralyzed by fear of being called “Crusaders.”
Some Crusaders were holy and courageous men. Some were not. All however, went on the Crusades for a noble purpose. The holiest places of Christianity are in Judea and Samaria, or Palestine. The apostles preached the Gospel in the Mediterranean basin and Southern India — precisely the area in which the invented cult of Islam spread. When Moslems began to kill Christian pilgrims, the Crusades were undertaken to protect the life, liberty, and safety of these pilgrims. Many centuries of Moslems however, have grown up on libels and slanders about the Crusaders.
The deadly violence against the pilgrims was a manifestation of a core religious teaching of Islam. Many of the problems of the Islamic world today are manifestations of this core belief.
Perhaps our problems in the region go back to our taking the side of Egypt against Britain and France in 1956. Perhaps they date to an earlier era. In any case, matters took a decided turn for the worse when we stood by when fanatical Moslems overthrew the Shah of Iran and the partly Christian government of Lebanon fell to pieces.
Today, Christians are less free in Iraq than they were under Saddam. They have never been free in Saudi Arabia or Sudan. They are newly threatened in Libya. They have been losing ground in Egypt; with an extremist Islamic government now in office, the killings and church burnings will fuel their exodus from their homeland. If the present government in Syria is overthrown, we can expect the ancient Christian community there to be persecuted.
The Christian communities in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria — formed during the early Church — are the site of unique liturgical practices little changed since apostolic times. Fifty years ago they flourished; now their very existence is threatened.
We have done nothing to protect these ancient communities. We are afraid that any foreign policy specifically directed to protecting these ancient Christian communities will lead us to be branded as “Crusaders.” We should not forget that there was a reason for Crusades. The cult of Islam was killing Christians then, as now. We used to use the word “crusade” in a positive sense. We should do so again, and let the Moslem world know that we will no longer tolerate persecutions.
There is a dangerous fad that classifies Christianity, Judaism, and Islam as the three ancient monotheistic religions. This is false. Christianity and Judaism both are directly descended from the ancient universal monotheism of Adam and Noah. Islam is as cooked up as Scientology. Christianity and Judaism are religions of tolerance; Islam is a religion of intolerance. The Crusaders did not go to force the Moslems to be baptized. They went to protect the liberty of Christians. Somebody should tell the U. S. State Department.
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The Confederate Lawyer column is copyright © 2012 by Charles G. Mills and the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation, www.fgfBooks.com. All rights reserved.
This column may be forwarded, posted, or published if credit is given to Charles Mills and fgfBooks.com.
Charles G. Mills is the Judge Advocate or general counsel for the New York State American Legion. He has forty years of experience in many trial and appellate courts and has published several articles about the law.
See his biographical sketch and additional columns here.
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