With the rise of modern religio-political Christianity there has been an increase in the use of the term “crusade”, especially when used in reference to stemming the tide of immigration to Europe and North America. I was shocked when viewing a recent episode of the UK version of the Trump inspired reality-business TV show, the Apprentice when one contestant decided to name her product after the “crusades”. Worst of all, she did this in a meeting with a fellow contestant, a Muslim woman:
The normalization of this pejorative term by today’s religio-political Christians sets a terrifying precedence. No one wants a repeat of the crusades, no sane person who sincerely values human life should normalize or seek to reference the crusades as something positive. Yet here we are in 2017 where an international TV show has someone naming their business after this term and not being removed from the programme. Instead of being rebuked and fired for this terrible, and uncouth business decision, the contestant went on to be a finalist and eventually win this season’s finale.
I was even more astonished to see Christians in Jonathan McLatchie’s Apologetics Academy calling for another crusade:
Proudly with Jesus’s name as his profile picture, we see the call for a new crusade. The comments did not fair better, as some Christians liked and supported the post. Muslims need to let Christians know that such violent statements are not okay. While not all Christians fall into the trap of using this term and the rhetoric surrounding it, there must be inter-Christian dialogue to move away from these ideas and rhetoric. Right-wing slogans among Christian evangelicals is not a recent phenomenon, but the normalization of these ideas must not be tolerated in today’s world. Effective intellectual and spiritual responses are needed to stem the tide before violence becomes the norm against Muslims.
and God knows best.
Categories: Christian extremism, Islam
Blogging Theology 
Ijaz,
Thanks for bringing attention to this problem. Christians are often allowed to engage in fundamentalist religious speech which can lead to violence against other faiths, and there is no consequence or repercussion.
But if a Muslim says one word out of slightly out of line, or if they are even just simply misunderstood, there is a media frenzy, and accusations flying left and right.
One cannot abide by such blatant and unjust double standards.
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