Outrage after Obama compares ISIS to the Crusades in comments at National Prayer Breakfast

[LuckyTheDog]

117. Here is my take

Obama tries to make the case that the existence of jihadist groups doesn't make Islam inherently evil any more than the existence of Jim Crow laws or the waging of the Crusades made Christianity inherently evil. Of course, right-wing bloggers and commentators are having conniptions. Apparently, they were hoping the president would declare a holy war against the entire Muslim world and/or issue a condemnation of of Islam and everyone who practices it -- because, I guess, they think that would have been more helpful to our national security.

Here in the sane world, we realize Obama's condemnation of the Islamic State and its fellow travelers could not have been more clear. And, as the bombing and drone campaigns show, the president remains committed to killing terrorists where they live. However, it's really not in our interest to take the bait and buy into the ISIS narrative -- the one that says the conflict should be seen as a holy war between Christianity and Islam and that the two faiths can never co-exist peacefully.

My only quibble with Obama here is that I actually do wish people would stop bringing up the Crusades in relation to this issue. First, they were a LONG time ago. Second, while none of the Crusades were exactly Christendom's finest hour, the history is more nuanced than people realize. To portray them as merely an early form of Western aggression against the East doesn't tell the entire story.