I’m continuing a summary of key parts of a new book by Rodney Stark, God’s Battalions. In this book the author presents evidence to suggest our current understanding of the Crusades is incorrect. In fact, he claims much of what we have been taught about these historical events has been manipulated to make the West look bad and to make Islam look much better than it really was. The conclusion we should reach is simple–if history can be twisted, what things are we being told today that are not true? Considering we are in a lengthy war with radical Islam, it’s important we consider what we really know about this issue. I would like to continue examining parts of God’s Battalions in the hope that we would re-think what the “experts tell us about the past as well as the present.

The next section of Stark’s book deals with pilgrimages and persecution: were the crusaders responding to atrocities by Islam in the Holy Land? His answer is yes. He gives a background of the history of pilgrimages to the Holy Land. In 638 A.D. Jerusalem surrendered to Muslim attackers. They immediately set up a ban which refused to allow any Jew to live in the city. Eventually this prohibition was dropped, but Christians and Jews had to accept a subordinate role in the society, known as “dhimmi.” They lived with contempt and occasional persecution. Mass murders of Christian monks and pilgrims were common, and Stark gives a lengthy list of specific times when these atrocities happened. Despite such horrors, the number of pilgrims who wished to visit the Holy Land increased over the years.

In the 10th century a new Muslim dynasty was established in Egypt and seized control of the Holy Land. One of the following rulers of this dynasty ordered the burning or confiscation of all Christian churches in the area. He also ordered the stripping and complete destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Word of this outrage sent an enormous wave of anger all across Europe. A later ruler of this dynasty permitted reconstruction of the church although Muslim attacks on Christian pilgrims had become more frequent and bloody. Here again Stark supplies a list of specific attacks.

In the 11th century things changed; unfortunately for Christians, they didn’t change for the better. Seljuk Turks began to move west, seized Persia, and set themselves up in Baghdad. Eventually they took over what today is modern Turkey. They were orthodox Sunni Muslims, but the Muslims in Cairo who were in control of the Holy Land were Shi’ites. So the Turks invaded Palestine to punish what they considered as Islamic heretics. These Turkish rulers persecuted pilgrims viciously. This set the scene for the start of the Crusades.