Great thoughts Joe. Coercion is not the way of Jesus. Self-sacrifice is! I wonder how many Muslims have been given the chance to hear that message. Listening to Professor Fernandez speak about the Crusades was both enlightening and sobering. It’s safe to say that that enterprise of Christendom lost the script: if not in principle (responding to a plea for help from Christians under attack from Islamic conquest) then most certainly in practice (ie, attacking and killing anyone who looked vaguely foreign once they got there, including Jews and many eastern Christians.) Hard to blame Muslims for picking up on that, even if there are two sides to every coin.
For that matter, I wonder how many Christians need to know our own history on this, as well as Jesus’ specific refutation of the idea that his kingdom is ever spread by the sword.
