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Originally Posted by detbuch
I think Christians could claim some "moral high ground" even with the behavior of European Christians at the time of the Crusades. There is no complete moral equivalence between ISIS and the Crusades. And there is certainly no equivalence for the actions of each IN THEIR TIME. The Christian behavior was not extreme, unusual, or unacceptable for the world at that time. What ISIS is doing is brutally extreme and unacceptable at this time for the world's moral consensus.
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Obama never stated there was moral equivalence. His mention of the Crusades was in a string of historic events making the point that the misuse of faith is a continuing challenge to humanity and no single religion can claim to be exempt.
I think it's fair to question his use of the Crusades in this context as it's a grey area. Some of the violence from the Crusades initially was religious fueled conquest but a lot was offensive/defensive tension at a shifting border between cultures.
My guess is a speechwriter was trying to paint with a broader brush.
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Anyway, medieval European Christianity is pretty much under control, don't ya think? Christian crusaders are no longer running around creating medieval atrocities. You'd think Obama would have noticed that. Instead of rehashing old news, focusing on current events might have been a better speech. No?
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That's the pretty obvious subtext to his mention of the Crusades, the Inquisition or Jim Crow is that we've moved on.