Written by Richard Butrick   

Basically Moore’s argument[1] is that Christians have been responsible for more death and destruction than Muslims and that we have no moral authority to criticize but still, given that caveat, the actions of some Muslims in the name (mistakenly) of Islam deserve criticism.

"I have, when I'm on Bill's show, told him there are far more examples historically of the death and destruction that Christians have brought to the planet, from the Crusades to the Inquisition to the wiping out of Native Americans to the Holocaust."

The Crusades – here we go again.

The followers of the warrior-prophet Muhammad had been waging relentless crusades[2] against the Christian world for 600 years before the Christian world retaliated. They waged brutal conquests and forced subjugation of Christian populations in the Levant. They lay siege to Byzantium for 400 years (7th – 11th centuries) – 400 years of the most brutal, vicious merciless attacks including attacks on defenceless populations. They subjugated North Africa and conquered Hispania leaving behind a trail of massacres and relentless persecution. Here is the timeline of Arab-Muslim “conquests”[3].

The Crusades were in retaliation for 600 years of Arab-Muslim assaults on Christendom. Wherein, then, lies the real culpability? As the great Belgian historian Henri Pirenne has put it, "Without Islam, the Frankish Empire would probably never have existed, and Charlemagne, without Muhammad, would be inconceivable." [4]

Mr. Moore claims there are “ … far more examples historically of the death and destruction that Christians have brought to the planet, from the Crusades to the Inquisition to the wiping out of Native Americans to the Holocaust.”

Is Mr. Moore aware that in India the Arab-Muslim forces have been responsible for up to 60 million deaths by execution and slaughter of Hindu populations? Indeed the Hindu Kush means Hindu “Slaughter.”[5] And how exactly are Christians, per se, morally culpable for the death and destruction for self-defence and retaliatory defence? Byzantium defended itself as a Christian empire and the Crusades were done in retaliation for 600 years of assault. The Christian world has been defending itself against ruthless brutal assault by the Muslim world until the Battle of Lepanto in the 16th century.

Then there is the inexplicable claim that Christians in the name of Christianity are responsible for the wiping out of Native Americans and the Holocaust?!Underlying all of this is Mr. Moore’s implicit claim that the death and destruction seen in the current and last century and the colonialism and slavery of past centuries was done in the name of Christianity. Slavery was done in the name of Christianity? Colonialism? Hamburg? Hiroshima? Drone attacks in the Middle East? The death and destruction perpetrated by the Arab-Muslim world is in the name of Islam. The moral equivalence argument blaming Christians or Christianity for slavery or Hiroshima or the death and destruction raging in the Middle East and Africa is a farce.

At least Mr. Moore seems to realize that as bad as we Christians are that terrorism and brutality in the name of Islam should not go unnoticed and that Mr. Maher should not be excommunicated from the PC world for calling attention to Islamic doctrine that justifies as much.

[1] http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/26900-in-defense-of-my-friend-bill-mahers-statements-on-islam
[2] http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2461832/posts
[3] http://www.historyworld.net/timesearch/default.asp?conid=static_timeline&timelineid=462&page=1&keywords=Arab%20and%20Muslim%20Conquests%20timeline
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Pirenne#cite_note-7[5] http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/30022
[5] http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/30022