But what about what Christians did during the Crusades!
"And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ."
I find Obama’s choice of words infuriating, yes, and misguided, perhaps, but fascinating, definitely. We can read 2 polarising interpretations from this single sentence. In his attempt to be all things to all men Obama has given us a glimpse of his true allegiance.
Let’s assume Obama is a Christian for a moment. He warns his fellow Christians against holding a superior attitude to these ISIS people committing terrible deeds in the name of Muhammed. By acknowledging that they, as Christians, committed equally terrible deeds centuries before, Obama could be seen to be smugly reprimanding Christendom for looking down at backward and uncivilised barbarians. Although Christians see themselves as ’evolved’ it wouldn’t do to patronise or criticise cultures living a pre-Enlightenment existence. These unfortunate primitive ‘children’ should be pitied, mothered, tolerated and excused. Much like the self-righteousness of the school ma’am gently reprimanding the rapscallion, the antics of ISIS should be equally indulged. Come on, we were all young once! So turn the other cheek Christians, boys will be boys.
But do we really believe this version? Nah. The message that is more likely is that Obama’s fallacious statement sits him squarely in the ISIS camp. You can almost hear him sneering, “You Christians!” It’s fascinating to me that Obama chose the Crusades and the Inquisition as comparisons to excuse ISIS brutality. Why not compare ISIS with the Romans, or more recently, the Nazis? But then I remembered Twitter. Twitter is awash with Muslims replying, “But what about the Crusades?” to every criticism of Islamic brutality. The Crusades are a standard retort, clearly framed within a madrassa/mosque education. For Obama to use the very same comparison raises questions I certainly can’t answer. Would a Jewish/atheist/Hindu/Christian president have said the same thing? Debatable. Let’s imagine, as hard as it may be, that Obama is a Muslim. Hold that thought.