The original six crusades lasted between the years 1095 and 1271. 1095, for those of us that remember, was the year in which 'Muslims' conquered Jerusalem. The Pope was not happy, and people in Europe (mostly Christians at the time) vowed to take back Jerusalem. In fact, after the first successful Crusade in 1099, 'they celebrated by herding all the Jews into a synagogue and burning them alive. Non-Christians were subsequently barred from the city.' This according to the Jewish Virtual Library. And all this time, I thought Jerusalem was a Jewish prize handed down to the Jews by God himself. Many hundreds of thousands of Christians, as well as Muslims, and Jews died during the 176 years of darkness that was the highlight of Middle Ages, only to surrender Jerusalem back to its 'righteous' owners.
Fast forward to today. The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy- O’Connor, spiritual leader of the four million Catholics in England and Wales, argues that Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, is not culturally part of Europe. Contrary to Tony Blair's wishes. But the Cardinal may have a point here if you believe 'cultural' allegiances are influenced by 'religion,' or vice versa as I believe, and 'religious leaders' are spokes-models for the 'new world order' as opposed to 'elected' not 'selected' leaders. You may be prompted to ask what is this world coming to?
But the good ole Cardinal asks "I think the question is for Europe. Will the admission of Turkey to the European Union be something that benefits a proper dialogue or integration of a very large, predominantly Islamic, country in a continent that, fundamentally, is Christian?"
I guess he believes it will be the latter, and he wishes the 'political' leaders took heed. The separation of Church and State is once again evidenced by the latest octogenarian club members who figure they only have a few years of life left in them so who cares if their comments would ignite the already burning flames of hate, anger, broken promises, and economical theories riddled with policies of disaster. Is this yet another experiment to test the patience of the world's citizens in the name of the 'holy' duties assigned to us by God? Or should we make Jerusalem the honorary capital of the EU? But would Israel then have automatic membership status? And would that make the aforementioned Cardinal turn in his grave?
Maybe someone should remind the Cardinal that there are several million Turks in Europe already. In fact, there are an estimated 20 million Muslims in Europe, some of whom are British citizens. And I am talking about the British subjects who are converts, and not just the Muslim immigrants living in Britain. And to deny them of their contributions to the 'European culture' would be considered offensive by some. And some experts think that by the year 2050, one in five Europeans will be Muslim. Oh one more thing. Where was the Cardinal when the Bosnian (and European) Muslims were being massacred, sorry, i meant ethnically cleansed, by the Orthodox Serbs.
By the way I do agree (but not for the same reasons as the Cardinal so eloquently put it) that Turkey should decide not to accept the invitation to join EU, the political Europe, even though Turkey is geographically as part of Europe as is Cyprus or even Israel. Unless of course, the plan is to take back Constantinople (more recently known as Istanbul) and hand it back to the Byzantines.
For those of you who are interested, the Pope's pre-planned visit to Turkey will still take place in late November. But I wonder why?
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