The Crusades

We've been trying to catch up on the series on The Crusades on the history channel. My God! I had no idea that the crusades were so brutal and vengeful. Violence and so much of it to prove what? That My God is greater than yours!! The way the crusaders butchered and vanquished anything that came in their way is quite gross.

Here are two religions trying to take control of the 'Holy land' - Jerusalem. In a way, the persecution of the Jews started right then. I guess it started much earlier, but they bore the brunt quite some bit during the crusades. The word 'Jihad' was born in that period meaning holy war. I don't understand the concept of war - even less of 'spiritual wars'. What is the point?

The Abrahamic religions are very different from the eastern religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Taoism are very mystical. And the western religions have something in them to prove that they're better than the others. The concept that 'only my way' is weird. Quite a contrast to what we are used to in terms of pluralism.

Christian crusaders described the Muslims as Pagans and the Muslims described the Christians as Infidels! Today these are the most dominant religions in the world in terms of numbers and wealth. Though the depth of belief in the Christian society is much lesser than the faith in the Muslim religion.

Religion itself is a oncept introduced for the sheep that follow the shepherd. The Abrahamic religions were spread with the concepts of devil, fear and heaven/hell concepts. So in today's individualistic societies, is there place for religion? I guess not.

There must've been some level of fanaticism that fuelled wars for 3 centuries! The kind of injuries and fatalities inflicted by the crusaders are part of Muslim folklore even today. Doesn't help much in the cause of world peace in the unstable world of today.

It's a very interesting series and gives a good insight into western religious conflicts. Yes, I'm on a history trip these days :)