Free Republic

A liberal, the old joke attributed to Robert Frost goes, is someone too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel. Something similar is going on with Catholics. Just ask Iggy the Crusader, who for years served nobly as the mascot of the College of the Holy Cross. Holy Cross is throwing Iggy under the bus. This was a necessary step in the larger effort to purge the school of any association with the Crusades. “The visual depiction of a knight, in conjunction with the moniker Crusader, inevitably ties us directly to the reality of the religious wars and...

How to Plan a Crusade: Religious War in the High Middle Ages, by Oxford professor Christopher Tyerman, demolishes the legend that Western crusaders were mere irrational rabble from Dark Age rubble.It is a mark of our hyper-political and hypocritical age that those who are most ignorant of the crusades should condemn the perceived ignorance of medieval crusaders. Sprinkle in accusations of greed, thuggery, and a moral equivalence with ISIS (see former President Obama’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, 2015) and it pretty much sums up what many people think they know about the crusades. But popular...

To understand any phenomenon, its roots must first be understood. Unfortunately, not only do all discussions on the conflict between Islam and the West tend to be limited to the modern era, but when the past, the origins, are alluded to, the antithesis of reality is proffered. We hear that the West -- itself an anachronism for Europe, or better yet, Christendom -- began the conflict by intentionally demonizing otherwise peaceful and tolerant Muslims and their prophet in order to justify their “colonial” aspirations in the East, which supposedly began with the Crusades. Bestselling author on Islam and Christianity Karen...

A very short video of Obama's chamber of secrets.

In a previous installment I mentioned France's recent war on blogs and the internet. France along with Germany are demanding that American based ISP and Blog services censor content that might be deemed offensive to Muslims. They threatened crackdowns if it was not complied. Since last summer we have received record viewership from France.  We did not know whether to attribute it to French Catholic viewership for our posts of videos and articles by Michael Voris Of Church Militant TV and other Catholic channels or if it was warning of an impending attack by the French Government and or perhaps...

If you want to inform yourself about what islam is, the dangers of islam, the background of islam, the goal of islam, and why islam is DIFFERENT than any other religion, you should read this page and watch the videos on it:..Video-16 min.

A classroom assignment on Islam says one negative effect of the Crusades is that Christians are still treating Muslims harshly. “I almost fell over,” said Barbara Light. Mrs. Light, of Westwood, New Jersey, was helping her 13-year-old daughter prepare for a World History test when she discovered some rather shocking lessons. “The Christians’ harsh treatment of Muslims in the Holy Land led to bitterness that has lasted to the present,” one worksheet stated.

An awesome CGI video about the 1456 siege of Belgrade, The Serbian Christians against the Turkish Onslaught!!

My Brothers! Soon, you will have your fight! You will have to kill other human beings! When that moment comes, when you must kill or be killed remember my words, you are not only fighting to defend Vienna but to defend your faith and your traditions! You are defending your wives & children, your sisters, your brothers, your mothers and fathers because if Vienna falls, Rome will fall! And if Rome falls, Holy mother church will fall! Defend your faith! So that your children may be free to worship God! Free to love Christ! Free! because you have fought on...

MAINESTATEGOP AND THE NEW ENGLAND ALLIANCE FOR LIBERTY AND FREE MARKETS PRESENTS A NEW BLOG  EVENTS IN HUMAN HISTORY BY KYLE WEISSMAN  We've had many history articles on our blog, The story of The Battle Of Lepanto being our best one, we've had many requests for more history related articles. So, we're presenting a new blog, EVENTS IN HUMAN HISTORY by our very own Kyle Weissman.  Kyle Weissman is one of our original founders of the New England Alliance For Liberty and Free Markets, He has been very very active in the free state movement in New Hampshire and...

Bill Warren, Ph.D. is a physicist and mathematician and created a dynamic battle map showing the history of Islam's attack against Christianity and the Crusades response. Be prepared to be shocked And pissed every time some liberal brings up the Crusades in response to Islamic terrorism. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I_To-cV94Bo

When we look back on the Third Crusade (1189-1192) it is all but impossible not to be struck by how close King Richard and the Christian host came to decisively defeating Saladin and re-taking Jerusalem. Twice during the campaign—in January 1192 and again in July 1192—the crusaders advanced to within a dozen or so miles of the Holy City, only to withdraw without making a serious effort to besiege it. In this brief essay, I will attempt to explain the strategic decision to abandon the first advance on Jerusalem in 1191/2. From Acre to Bayt NubaDuring the summer and autumn...

Following 9/11, there was renewed interest in the Crusades as explanations were sought for the brutal attacks. As terrorist attacks have continued throughout the years, and now with the rise of the Islamic State, this interest in the Crusades has not abated. Unfortunately, increased interest has not necessarily translated into increased knowledge. Prof. Thomas F. Madden has lamented: “An interested person who simply strolls into a bookstore looking for a history of the crusades is much more likely to walk out with a book written by a novelist, journalist, or ex-nun than one written by a professional historian and based...

VATICAN CITY — For the first time in seven centuries, support for a new Crusade topped all other economic, religious, and foreign policy concerns, according to yesterday’s Vatican/CNN survey of “self-identified” Christians in Europe and the United States. Nearly 95 percent of respondents reported that they “strongly supported” the building of an army to place the entirety of modern day Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon under the banner of the Holy See. Those polled indicated that though they “sort of” enjoyed the basic tenets of democracy, the terror attacks in Belgium made them willing to cede all political and military...

One of the more pernicious and prevalent post-9/11 myths is that one of Islam’s most fundamental concepts, jihad, has been distorted by “violent extremists” who have “hijacked the religion.” In this fairy-tale view, jihad is above all a struggle for self-betterment that al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, Boku Haram, and others have twisted and deformed. Mourad of Smith College and Lindsay of Colorado State University provide an excellent antidote to this ahistorical nonsense by offering a serious primer on the historical codification of jihad and its subsequent application in response to the Crusaders.

A Pennsylvania university is searching for a new mascot and nickname to replace its longtime “Crusaders” moniker, which the school says is “at odds” with its “values and commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.” Susquehanna University is asking people to submit their top choices for a replacement by Jan. 25. The top contenders — which might include the Bobcats or River Otters — will then be submitted to the university president, who will in turn present them to the school’s board of trustees.

Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war With the cross of Jesus going on before Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng Blend with ours your voices in a triumph song Christ, the Royal Master, leads against the foe Forward into battle, see His banners go… The warriors of radical Islam wish to destroy us. Anyone not murdered by them must succumb to Sharia Law and their twisted ideology. They will not stop until we are dead or under their control. The West has only one choice, to fight and vanquish the soldiers of radical Islam once and for...

Many historians had been trying for some time to set the record straight on the Crusades—misconceptions are all too common. For them, current interest is an opportunity to explain the Crusades while people are actually listening. With the possible exception of Umberto Eco, medieval scholars are not used to getting much media attention. We tend to be a quiet lot (except during the annual bacchanalia we call the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, of all places), poring over musty chronicles and writing dull yet meticulous studies that few will read. Imagine, then, my surprise when within days...

Many of our policy debates and conflicts both domestic and foreign call on history to validate their positions. At home, crimes from the past like slavery and legal segregation are used to justify present policies ranging from racial set asides to housing regulations long after those institutions have been dismantled. Abroad, our jihadist enemies continually evoke the Crusades, “colonialism,” and “imperialism” as justifications for their violence. Yet the “history” used in such fashion is usually one-sided, simplistic, or downright false. Nor is the reason hard to find: as we read in 1984, “Who controls the past . . . controls...

Today, October 7th, the free West celebrates and remembers that on this date in 1571 the last great naval battle of oared ships took place in the Gulf of Corinth (Greece). Known as the Battle of Lepanto – where the Muslims had their fleet – this was the first defeat of the Muslim Turks at sea by Christian forces.