[E Rocc]

Martyrdom in Christianity has typically (but not always) been associated with suffering death for refusing to renounce Christ, not blowing up a busload of non-Christians.

Those who died fighting in the Crusades were considered martyrs. If I'm not mistaken, this also applied to those who attacked the Albigensians and Byzantines.

-Eric

[Antoninus]

Those who died fighting in the Crusades were considered martyrs. If I'm not mistaken, this also applied to those who attacked the Albigensians and Byzantines.

You thought wrong. The crusaders who sacked Byzantium were excommunicated as were those guilty of the worst excesses against the Albigensians.

Those of you who try to compare the bad behavior of some medieval nobles and knights who claimed to be Christian with the barbaric actions of "modern" Islamic types acting under the approving eye of their religious leaders are truly morons. Find me an instance of a Christian strapping a nail bomb to his body and blowing up a bus-load of children, or flying a jet-liner into a skyscraper--all with the tacit approval of the Pope. Then we can make a comparison.

[SlowBoat407]

Those who died fighting in the Crusades were considered martyrs. If I'm not mistaken, this also applied to those who attacked the Albigensians and Byzantines.

Hence my qualifying statement. I try not to leave myself without some wiggle room.