More often than not, when I try to explain how Christianity is tolerant, atheists bring up the crusades over and over again. What they do not understand is that: 1. The crusades were never backed by the Bible. 2. A defensive war for Europeans. Now first things first, the crusades were not Biblical. This is easy to see from First John 4:11 and the parable of the Good Samaritan. 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” The Muslims were quite clearly the neighbors of the Christians. (Most of) The crusades went against the Bible. In fact the cause of the Crusades was not the Bible, but the Popes at the time. Those popes declared that attacking the Muslims was righteous, even though the Bible said otherwise. Secondly, the Muslims stared the war. Thy began attacking the Byzantium empire, and the allies of the Byzantium empire rushed to help. This led to the crusades. Any questions or comments?