Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

the term can be used in a life-affirming context, by being subject to ethics. However, we should be
sensitive to how the term has legitimated past destructive behavior, and even historically, and presently,
indicated potential destructive behavior. To explore the meaning of a crusade, I will be using research on
the Crusades provided by Charles Kimball and exploring life affirming and destructive religious behavior
through Lloyd Steffen.
In Charles Kimball‟s When Religion Becomes Evil, he explores how religion has been distorted because
of absolute truth claims. Absolute truth claims invoke the image of the one true faith. If people believe
their conceptualization of God, is the only way to know God, then tensions and violence can be propagated
towards victimizing others and fueling hatreds. Kimball illustrates how these absolute truth claims raise up
„inspiring‟ and „charismatic‟ leaders. These leaders promote corrupting political ideologies backed by their
absolute truth claims that “become propositions requiring uniform assent and are treated as rigid doctrines”
(49). They abuse sacred texts through selective readings, narrow-minded interpretations, and reading a
sacred text as literal truth, causing dangerous frustrations and allegiances to form among religious
communities. Absolute truth claims corrupt the religion and distort a religious tradition‟s potential to
provide models for “tolerance and cooperation” (9). Kimball lists warning signs for corruption in a religion,
and one of these warning signs is the call to holy war.
Kimball makes no distinction between the terms crusade and holy war and writes detailed
descriptions on the Crusades to convey how absolute truth claims can lead to holy war. In the case of the
Crusades, they were set off by an appeal to Pope Urban II for help against the Turks who were “within
striking distance” of a major Christian city (Kimball 173). He called for people of Europe to help “turn back
the Turks,” and declared for his holy warriors to take the land of Jerusalem from the „wicked race‟ and
„subject it‟ to themselves (174). Kimball uses historical research to back up his statements on the appalling
violence that ensued which includes some crusaders massacring Jews in Germany, carrying the heads of
Muslims on spears, cannibalism, and burning children. Kimball writes, “By the time the Crusaders reached
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