Two major monotheistic religions that have significantly different views on the way followers should act yet have surprisingly similar justifications for going to war: Islam and Christianity. Islamic faith is centered on the belief in Jihad, or an internal struggle, and “he who does not join the warlike expedition (jihad), or equip a warrior, or looks well after a warrior’s family when he is away, will be smitten by Allah with a sudden calamity.” Many people often associate Christianity as a pacifist religion, but this is not entirely accurate as seen in the crusades in the Middle Ages where Pope Urban II sent men to help the Byzantine’s fight off the advancing Seljuk Turks. Although Christianity and Islam have many fundamentally different
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But why did Pope Urban II want to get involved with the problems in the east? Pope Urban II had witnessed the success that the Islamic faith had been having utilizing conquest through faith, and he also thought this could give him a new method to spread Christianity and the possibility to retake control of the Eastern Byzantine Empire. Pope Urban II was able to unite a large number of fighters using his power as a prominent religious figure who assured the volunteers that God would forgive their sins in return for their willingness to fight for the church to regain the territory previously taken by the Turks and Arabs. The Crusades marked a shift in the way Christianity was followed and used by its leaders. Pope Urban II used religious power and the trust of the people in him to manipulate his own political agenda. Although the original proposed intention of regaining the territory conquered by the Muslims was not totally achieved, Pope Urban’s goal of “revitalizing” the church proved to be a success during the early 13th century under the rule of Pope Innocent III who was able to be the leader of the church as well as an influential player in the political
But why did Pope Urban II want to get involved with the problems in the east? Pope Urban II had witnessed the success that the Islamic faith had been having utilizing conquest through faith, and he also thought this could give him a new method to spread Christianity and the possibility to retake control of the Eastern Byzantine Empire. Pope Urban II was able to unite a large number of fighters using his power as a prominent religious figure who assured the volunteers that God would forgive their sins in return for their willingness to fight for the church to regain the territory previously taken by the Turks and Arabs. The Crusades marked a shift in the way Christianity was followed and used by its leaders. Pope Urban II used religious power and the trust of the people in him to manipulate his own political agenda. Although the original proposed intention of regaining the territory conquered by the Muslims was not totally achieved, Pope Urban’s goal of “revitalizing” the church proved to be a success during the early 13th century under the rule of Pope Innocent III who was able to be the leader of the church as well as an influential player in the political