XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: bredband.net@ojevind.lang   
      
    skrev i meddelandet   
   news:1176619101.130305.253620@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...   
   On Apr 14, 4:49 pm, "Öjevind Lång"  wrote:   
      
   [snip]   
      
   > And yet, I wish that a lot of massacres (and the sack of fellow-Christian   
   > Constantinople) had not been committed specifically in the name of the   
   > loving Christian God.   
   >   
   > Öjevind   
      
   >What people do in the name of their god cannnot be imputed to their   
   god,   
      
   True. For example, Islam does not automatically become an evil religion   
   because al-Qaeda is evil.   
      
   > yet I wonder...at what point is it necessary to become protectors   
   of the faith, and of the faithful? Which of us would prosper under   
   Sharia law? Can we allow the subjucation of our neighbors simply   
   because the ones in power share a common racial heritage with those   
   they supress?   
      
   I am not sure that I understand what you mean. Are you suggesting a crusade   
   to liberate Christians in Muslim countries?   
      
   >Why must certain groups be sheltered from the   
   marketplace of ideas?   
      
   I don't think any group should be thus sheltered.   
      
   > If we, as Christians, in this century, condemned   
   to death any who converted to Islam, as some Islamic countries do,   
   would we not be barbarians?   
      
   We would. Anyone who condems people to death for their beliefs is doing an   
   evil thing. That is as true of us as it is of Torquemada, and of some   
   Islamic countries.   
      
   > btw. excuse my ignorance, but which   
   Christian group sacked Constantinople?   
      
   The Catholics, in 1204. In 1203, the participants in the Fourth Crusade were   
   bribed into capturing Constantinople instead of fighting against the   
   Muslims. They were bribed by a claimant to the throne. When the claimant   
   didn't pay up, the Crusaders deposed him, sacked Constantinople very   
   thoroughly and then carved up The Byzantine Empire between them - the   
   Venetian Repubblic also took its share. The Orthodox Patricharch and the   
   Bishops were deposed and replaced with dignitaries of the Western Rite.   
   However, some areas never accepted Latin rule and remained independent under   
   various native rulers, and in 1261 one such ruler captured Constantinople   
   and restored the Byzantine Empire. But the Byzantines never recovered from   
   what the crusaders had done to them. It is regarded as a major contribution   
   to the weakening of the Empire which led to it finally succumbing to the   
   Turks in 1453, after having progressively lost more territory to them during   
   the past 200 years.   
      
   Öjevind   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)