Denver, Colo., Apr 27, 2005 / 22:00 pm
With renewed attention being given to the Catholic Crusades in light of Ridley Scott’s soon-to-be released film ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, Dr. Jay Reyes is urging faithful to understand their complicated history and not be intimidated by those who use the Crusades to “attack Christian history and obscure the real roots of Christian-Muslim conflict.”
Reyes, President of Denver’s Augustine Institute went so far as to say that on a certain level, Christians should be proud of the Crusades.
“It’s hard for us to understand”, he said, “people who loved the land where the Lord had walked that much.”
He said that his goal for the night was not to “whitewash” the atrocities committed during the Crusades, but rather, to help his audience understand the real circumstances of the time and avoid the “simplistic judgments” that he thinks, pervade modern conversations about them.