Some in the media, along with our President, have recently been accusing those who led the Crusades of being the worst mass murderers in history. Conservative estimates cite approximately 1.7 million who were killed in the Crusades over a period of 200 years. That would be 6,000 deaths a year. As for the Inquisition, a total of about 3,000 were judged and sentenced to death.
Hitler slaughtered over six million in six years. Communist regimes massacred almost 100 million since 1917. I cite these statistics, not to diminish the tragedy of anyone’s death at the hands of misguided Christians, but merely to bring these exaggerated comments into proper focus.
Conservative estimates of the number killed by Islam’s Jihadists reaches approximately 270 million. I hardly think that President Obama’s recent comparison of the Crusades with Islamic Jihad bear any semblance, certainly not when regularly Christians are being beheaded, shot, and raped by representatives of Islam. One wonders why Mr. Obama continues to justify Islamic Jihad’s horrendous behavior while incriminating the very religion of Christianity that he claims to follow.
It has been conservatively estimated that some 70 million Christians have been martyred since the beginning of Christianity, with 45 million of these being in the 20th century. President Obama should get better informed.
One other point: most deaths caused by the Christian religion occurred in the Dark Ages when Roman Catholicism and its Popes held hegemony over the Christian religion. Even so, the Church has long since begged the world’s forgiveness and repudiated using force to expand the Christian religion. Isn’t it past time for Islam to come out of their 7th Century closet and begin to act civil in the modern world? But don’t hold your breath/
James West
Ringgold