Time to move on - but is it possible?

The Crusades - history

The Inquisition - history

President Obama's reference to the Crusades and the Inquisition in the same breath as IS atrocities was unfortunate. No doubt he meant well but listening to what he actually said (here), he left himself open to misunderstanding: "People committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ", he said. So they did.

Nobody can excuse that. But the Crusades and the Inquisition are history. The world has moved on but Islam has not.

Islam makes much of the Crusades in their propaganda war to justify their aggression. Apologists fall for it every time with no apparent knowledge of what actually took place. As  Prof. Thomas F. Madden put it in The Real History of the Crusades:

Regarding the modern day reference to the crusades as a supposed grievance by Islamic militants still upset over them..."if the Muslims won the crusades (and they did), why the anger now?  Shouldn't they celebrate the crusades as a great victory? Until the nineteenth century that is precisely what they did. It was the West that taught the Middle East to hate the crusades. During the peak of European colonialism, historians began extolling the medieval crusades as Europe's first colonial venture. By the 20th century, when imperialism was discredited, so too were the crusades. They haven't been the same since." He adds, "The truth is that the crusades had nothing to do with colonialism or unprovoked aggression. They were a desperate and largely unsuccessful attempt to defend against a powerful enemy. The entire history of the crusades is one of Western reaction to Muslim advances." [My emphasis - Ed.]

Muslim jihad continues to this day acting on a 7th C. Instruction manual which forbids changes to its instructions and imposes ancient punishments such as stoning, amputation and crucifixion plus the death penalty for apostasy. 'Their' (Muslim) lands are lands held as a result of conquest, a process still going on, most noticeably in the Middle East and in Africa. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Hagia Sophia in what was Constantinople are obvious examples of mosques replacing Holy sites after Islamic victories. Mosques continue to be built in increasing numbers in the West through cultural jihad while Christian churches are being destroyed in what used to be Christian countries abroad. Do Muslims not understand this or are they merely being devious when they deny the truth of what is mandated in their religion?

Excuses are fruitless. Islam should be held up to the same scrutiny as other religions and ideologies if any progress is to be made in the fight against so-called extremism.

The present. (Actual graphics are too gruesome for illustrative purposes)