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Holy Wars: Lessons from the Crusades

By Jon Mundy

Seek not to change the world,
But choose to change your mind about the world.
(A Course in Miracles, T-21.In.1:7)

A Holy War is, of course, an oxymoron like “loving hate” or “pretty ugly,” yet sometimes we find ourselves in these absurd ambiguities. In 1095, at a church council in Clermont, France, Pope Urban II called on Christians to take up arms and travel east to reclaim Jerusalem from Muslim control. Urban II called it a holy war, promising that the sins of all who joined would be forgiven and that, upon death, God would grant them immediate access to Heaven. He ended his speech exclaiming.

“Deus vult!” — “God wills it!”

Thousands of knights, nobles, peasants, and adventurers sewed crosses onto their clothing—hence the name Crusaders, meaning “those who take up the cross.” Fired by religious zeal and promises of spiritual reward, they began a long march toward the Holy Land.

Without proper planning, the First Crusade was inadequately supplied, disorganized, and poorly carried out. How was an army marching across Europe supposed to be fed? They needed food. The solution was to loot their way to Jerusalem, stealing whatever they could along the route. Jewish communities were most impacted as mobs of Crusaders attacked towns along the Rhine River in what is now France and Germany. Entire villages were destroyed. Families were slaughtered. These victims had nothing to do with Jerusalem; they were simply in the way.

It took months to get to Jerusalem. When the Crusaders finally reached the capital in 1099, they besieged the city. Breaking through the walls, they slaughtered the inhabitants—Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Chroniclers of the time recorded that the streets’ gutters ran with blood.

The First Crusade failed. There were eight more crusades over the next two centuries. Kings, popes, and preachers urged armies forward in the name of Jesus. Countless battles were fought, and thousands of lives were lost.

One of the worst events was during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. On their way to Jerusalem, the Crusaders stopped in Constantinople, the greatest Christian city in the Eastern world, and they destroyed the city. They plundered the churches, assaulted women, and took anything of value. The toll—in lives, resources, and moral clarity—was impossible to ignore. Many historians consider the Fourth Crusade one of the most tragic events in medieval history. Christians fought Christians in a war originally declared to defend Christianity. The sack of Constantinople permanently weakened the Byzantine Empire. Although the city eventually regained some strength, the damage was done. Two and a half centuries later, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, ending the Byzantine era.

The Crusades were clearly driven by politics, fear, and the human tendency to divide the world into “us” and “them.” The tragedy lies in the egoic belief that violence could somehow serve a sacred purpose.

Humans often assume that God favors them in conflicts. Christians and Muslims each prayed before entering battle—confident that God was on their side because they believed they were defending truth, righteousness, and God’s divine will. The Crusades show how dangerous collective certainty can be. When large groups believe their cause is unquestionably right, questioning stops, compassion shrinks, and violence becomes justified. The same instincts that led medieval armies across continents are still active in the human mind today. The urge to defend one’s beliefs, protect one’s identity, and defeat perceived enemies is deeply rooted in the ego’s view of the world.

You cannot have feelings of superiority and not an enemy make. …He who is your enemy you cannot help but be at war with. Where there is war there can be no peace. War is not simply the existence of external activity. External activity is but the effect of a cause that remains internal, and all war is but war upon yourself. 
(A Course of Love, Ch.14: Special Relationships, Earthly and Human)

Something similar happened with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Emperor Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, was thought to be a descendant of Amaterasu, the “heaven-shining” goddess. As such, he was invulnerable.

Bullying and harassment never lead to peace. Sanity, clarity of mind, humility, and compassion are stronger forces than ideology and far more important than an ego out of line. When the mind becomes quiet enough to see beyond divisions, the impulse toward conflict begins to dissolve.

History offers many warnings. The Crusades are among the most vivid. We went to Vietnam because we were afraid of communism. Two million people died, and it cost a trillion dollars in today’s money. Iraq and Afghanistan were similar mistakes. When will we ever learn? The ways of war are not the ways of peace, and what the war-like would have us remember is not love.

Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here. (Lesson 333 from ACIM)

Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. For only then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears.