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RELIGION/tCtt Cliarlstte $ot
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Mlitant MusHms, Utest square off
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The No. 1 religious theme of
2005—and presumably for
2006 and years beyond—is
the faceoff between militant
Islam and Western civiliza
tion, with its scriptural Jew
ish and Christian heritage.
That confix)ntation over
shadowed Catholicism’s
changeover from Pope John
Paul n to Pope Benedict XVI
and Protestants’ severe dis
pute about homosexu
ality and the Bible.
Stepping back from
the daily headlines
about terrorism, the
question arises: What
underlies this lethal
global tension? Ohio
University historian T.
David Curp has an
answer that turns
explanations inside
out.
“It is commonplace
to claim that the Cru
sades scarred the
imagination of the
Muslim world for cen
turies,” he wrote
recently in Crisis, a
Catholic magazine.
Islamists and Arab
nationalists regularly
cite the medieval war
fare between Chris
tians and Muslima as
a source for today’s
anti-Western views
across the Mideast.
“This is simply incor
rect,” Curp asserted, noting
that Princeton University’s
Bernard Lewis said Muslims
actually had little interest in
Western Christendom for
centuries following the Cru
sades (apart from those
directly involved in invadii^
Christian territory).
Cuip’s key claim: “Radical
Islam’s protest against the
West is not fuded primarily
by aggrieved victimhood; it is
nourished by an even
stronger memory of how
Islam’s final victory over
Cliristendom remained for so
long a real possibility”
For about 1,000 years, the
Muslim world experienced
mostly expansion and mili
tary triumph. That era ended
in 1683, when Muslims held-
PHOTO/THE STOCK MARKET
vast terrain in eastern
Europe and 140,000 TYirkish
troops nearly conquered \^en-
na, posing a significant thi'eat
for the West. But the Muslim
invaders were defeated.
One mi^t develop Curp’s
scenario this 'N^.y. After
numerous victories, Islamic
Church plans to give
house away on New
Year’s Eve
lands suffered the humilia
tion of European colonialism,
then the cultural weakness of
independent Muslim coun
tries extending to the pre
sent That has created a psy
chological crisis for Islam.
Curp’s retelling of the histo
ry explains the context that
first created widespread
Mushm-Cliristian combat.
Islam originally took the
Holy Land in 638 and quickly
vanquished laige tracts of the
former dluistendom.
This provoked no
sweeping outrage, nor
did Western CJhristians
manage any concerted
military counterattack
until 1095, when Pope
Urban II summoned
the First Crusade.
What caused the
pope’s radical step?
During that turbulent
epoch, Eastern Chris
tianity’s Byzantine
Empire had finally bro
ken with Western
Cathohcism and its
pope. The Byzantines
faced the greater Islam
ic militaiy threat, but
Western Catholics, too,
were agitated about
increased persecution of
Christian pilgrims
seeking to visit their
holy sites in Jerusalem,
which r^juired them to
travel throu^ Muslim
regions.
Meanwhile, the 10th-
century Islamic preacher Ibn
Nubata al-Fariqi developed a
cycle of sermons calling for
holy war—somewhat resem
bling Urban’s later Cfrusade
call—that had considerable
influence on Muslim thinking
in succeeding centuries.
Christians’ situation in the
East began to deteriorate mil
itarily in 903 when Muslims
sacked Thessalonica, the
Byzantines’ second-ranking
city, and enslaved 30,000
inhabitants. In 931 they took
Ankariya (present-day
Ankara) and enslaved thou
sands more.
In 1064 the Itirks seized
the capital of Christian Arme
nia, slaughtering the popu
lace and imprisoning 30,000
people. Then, in the climactic
Battle of Mantzikert in 1071,
the Muslims virtually
crushed Byzantine military
power. In Curp’s telling, it
was that disaster that pro
voked the Crusades in
response.
The campaign in pi'esent-
day T\u*key 'to expel,
enslave or impoverish the
region’s Christian inliabi-
tants” lasted 300 yeai*s, diu*-
ing which the population
dropped by half The once-
thriving Christian ai*ea
"became a wasteland imder
the rule of its new leligiously
intolerant and afien mas
ters,” he wi-ote.
Curp simmiaiizes that cli
mactic era: "Tlie wais tliat
Islam waged against Chiis-
tendoiu—and Cluistendom’s
coimterattacks, degeneiated
into lejiiaikably diity wars
that often emp>owei*€xl the
worst impulses in both
faiths.”
A.L. Jinwright
▼ Pastor Harriet Jinwright
For more Information call 704.399.5448 or visit vvww.greatersalem.org
5318 Salem Church Road ■ Charlotte, NC 28214
d
Daybreak of Freedo
Di. Mailin lutliei Kinp, Jr. Memoiial Concert and including a tiibute in Rosa Parks
MON JAN 10 * ] pm BlumenHialPerlormlng Arts center
OneottyQtTe'ssigfiMe Kino Oat
celelirations, is an
inspirational coneeftiiioiBlilino itie civil
riphts stfogple and the life of Or. Manm
lulliei KiniJi. 'llwasagloiiouscDn-
cerr prctclaiited IheMsHeStissm.
"tor ifnse of us who tterelortunaie
enoupti to lie tfiere will fiear ils itusic
rinp in nii ears for a long lime.'
I Tickets startina at just $5
throughout the year. Twelve
finalists—symbolizing the 12
apostles—will be selected.
Each of the finalists will
receive a key, which they will
try in a door on stage. The
person whose key unlocks the
door wins the home. Light
ning, music, indoor fireworks
and balloon drops will also be
part of the festivities.
More than 2,000 people typ
ically attend the church’s
New Year’s Eve service.
(Jhurch member Richard
Murillo, who owns Trinity
Builders, charged the church
$53,000 to cover the cost of
materials to construct the
house.
WE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LA MARQUE, Tfex-In a
game show-st>ie giveaway a
church plans to award a
$120,000 three-bedroom
house to one of its worship
pers on New Year’s Eve.
Since 2003, Abundant Life
Christian Cfent^* has given
away a car, a motorcycle and
furniture.
“It encourages people to
come to the service, and it
helps keep people off the
street with all that revelry
going on,” said pastor Walter
Hallam.
During Saturday’s service,
20 names will be selected at
random and placed with 100
others chosen from services
Texas pastor’s wife
says she chose to leave
plane after ai^ument
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON—The wife of the pastor of the nation’s lai^est
church said she chose to leave an airplane after a disagreement
with a fli^t attendant, disputing accounts that she was asked
to go.
The FBI has said Mctoria Oste^ was asked to leave after fad
ing to obey crew instructions. The Continental Airlines flight
Mcttiday fiom Houston to Vail; Cifolo., was ddayed an hour as a
result.
In a statement posted on the Lakewood Church Web site,
Osteen says: “Regardless of how some have portrayed the situ
ation, please know that it was truly a minor misunderstanding
and did not escalate into what you saw or read in the news. Con
trary to those reports, it was my choice to remove myself fiY)m
the situation. Ncmetheless, it was a most unfortunate event and
I truly regret that it happened.”
A statement firom (Continental said the situation Vas resolved
and a spokeswoman would not elaborate. The FBI reviewed a
report firom the airline and determined that no illegal activity
had occurred, FBI spokeswoman Luz Garcia said.
“She failed to ccanply with the flight attendant’s instructions,
and they were asked to leave the flight,” Garcia said TViesday
Churdi spokesman Don Iloff said the Osteen family took
another fli^t to Vail.
Pastor Joel Osteen took ov&c his father’s church in 1999 and
has since increased its following to more than 30,(X)0 worship
pers weekly The congregation of Lakewood Church meets in a
renovated sports arena where the Houston Rockets once played.
Osteen’s sermons are also broadcast throu^iout the country
and his book “Your Best Life Now” has become a best seller.
Lakewood (Church: http://www.lakewood.cc/
New Mix in
C' t
Join Us For A Spirit Fiiled
Watch Night Service!
December 31, 2005 6:00pmk
The Charlotte Merchandise Mart ,. t
25CO Independence BM. -w'—'‘ Nl.' '
of
Pastor Claude R. Alexander, Jr. ^
6029 Beatties Ford Rd, ‘
Charlotte, NC
704-392-1681 .
www.theparkmlnlstrles.or^ .'
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