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Pride is no virtue, from a jihadist's perspective you have done a greater disservice than I. You profess to be offended by things relating to your lineage but if I were to say that the kings of Ireland were individually foolish to ally with Longshanks; would that offend you?

We recently covered the Crusades in my history class. Being in a Catholic school I expected a toned down version that gave more of the Church's side to the story. I guess I underestimated my teacher. She gave both sides to it, and it really does come across as being a horrible thing for Catholics to have done. Maybe I just say that though because I have a little more attraction to Islam than I do to Christianity.

Religions have always used their perspective deities as excuses to do shitty stuff to people.

Fine. Religions have very often used their respective deities as an excuse to do shitty stuff to people.

Way to go, Nasuko. You have a real talent for killing threads. What are you inferring when you say, "I get angry". Is that supposed to be a threat? I don't think it's a really smart thing to say...if anyone gets hacked, they very well may point fingers at you. Your favorite historical person is Hitler. Many people could have been offended by that, but nobody ruined a thread by voicing it, or threatening you.

The group is discussing/debating a part of history that was mostly about religious beliefs that lead to conflict. It's a little difficult to leave religion out of the discussion, and a discussion without opinions is, what? Not a discussion?

For that matter, unless you want only to talk about history dating from the 20th century, it would be fairly difficult to never mention religion, being our ancestors did almost everything in the name of religion. In fact, Hitler even acted upon his religious beliefs. It is only our modern culture that tries to keep quiet about religion and mostly acts upon the premise of materialism. So, if you want to kill the entire guild, keep threatening people when they express their opinions on one of the most important factors and causes of history.

I am going to make an attempt to bring this thread back to life because it's a very interesting subject. Below is a quote from Encarta Encyclopedia. Please note that the writers were not afraid to include the very important religious factors of the Crusades.

"The Crusaders carved out feudal states in the Near East. Thus the Crusades are an important early part of the story of European expansion and colonialism. They mark the first time Western Christendom undertook a military initiative far from home, the first time significant numbers left to carry their culture and religion abroad.

In addition to the campaigns in the East, the Crusading movement includes other wars against Muslims, pagans, and dissident Christians and the general expansion of Christian Europe. In a broad sense the Crusades were an expression of militant Christianity and European expansion. They combined religious interests with secular and military enterprises. Christians learned to live in different cultures, which they learned and absorbed; they also imposed something of their own characteristics on these cultures. The Crusades strongly affected the imagination and aspirations of people at the time, and to this day they are among the most famous chapters of medieval history.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved."

You just proved my point. Why don't you read the the entire thread again, so you'll know what you're talking about. I've been all over this guild, and, I don't care if you are part of the crew now, you have been "offended" many times without truly reading what was said. You get offended, but your profile is one of the most offensive profiles I've seen on this site. But, I'm a Grandmother of 46. I quit taking offense to every little thing a long time ago. It's called maturity. I've contributed gold to the guild, and a guild needs normal members as much as it needs crew members. If the crew gets offended too often, there will be nothing but crew left.

I can do that. You did a very good job with the newsletter, by the way.

Now, would anyone like to continue discussing the Crusades? I will quote Encarta again, as a re-opening, because Encarta sounds much smarter than I do xd


"The Crusaders carved out feudal states in the Near East. Thus the Crusades are an important early part of the story of European expansion and colonialism. They mark the first time Western Christendom undertook a military initiative far from home, the first time significant numbers left to carry their culture and religion abroad.

In addition to the campaigns in the East, the Crusading movement includes other wars against Muslims, pagans, and dissident Christians and the general expansion of Christian Europe. In a broad sense the Crusades were an expression of militant Christianity and European expansion. They combined religious interests with secular and military enterprises. Christians learned to live in different cultures, which they learned and absorbed; they also imposed something of their own characteristics on these cultures. The Crusades strongly affected the imagination and aspirations of people at the time, and to this day they are among the most famous chapters of medieval history.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved."

Becuase every American is ignorant, right?