The Crusades Of Pope Urban II

Another approach that Urban II used in his speech at the Council of Clermont to compel them to join the crusade, was to tell them that they would receive forgiveness of sins by the power invested in him, as pope. “Wear his cross as your badge. If you are killed your sins will be pardoned” (The First Crusade). Pope Urban II believed that he had the power, given to him by God, to forgive sins. There were Christians who realized that they were sinners, and that by fighting in the Crusade, they would have those sins forgiven. Pope Urban II explained that if they died fighting for God, they would go to heaven. He used that power to inspire and recruit people to fight in the Crusade. Many Christians sought to regain Jerusalem because of their faith …show more content…
“Separation of church and state, frees a church and its members from the coercive power of the state so that the exercise of religion is unimpeded” (What’s the Catholic View on Church and State). The church should not be manipulated to promote and execute the wills of the government and the government should not interfere with a person’s religious beliefs and practices. Many of the fighters that signed up to fight in the crusades did so as a result of the persuasive speech by Pope Urban II, fearing going to hell if they did not. Emperor Alexius I imposed his desires for the State onto the Church by urging the Pope to help him fight the Muslims, overtaking so much land, so that he would have his other interests met. The results of all of the crusades proved to be violent and disastrous. The Muslims killed the Jews, the Christians killed the Muslims, the Muslims killed the Christians and it continued for over 200 years, all in the name of religion. I believe that there should not be a national religion and I think that is what our forefathers of America had in mind when drafting our constitution. Our forefathers wanted to make sure that the church would be free from government interference and that we would have freedom of religion. I believe that many atheists misinterpret that to mean freedom from religion, but that is not the case. I think the church should review the mistakes made by the crusades and vow to never let such horrific bloodshed happen again. Governments should protect their lands from threatening attackers, but it should be under military control, not the church. Portraying that God willed all to take up arms during the crusades, caused many poor and untrained zealots to join the fight, resulting in even more deaths. The zealots’ intentions were honorable, but their likelihood to survive was minimal, further proving the need for warfare to be