I’m not a big fan of organized religion. I had to go to mass every Sunday until I turned 18, and never looked back. It never clicked with me despite my many attempts to have faith. This does not mean I am against it or find it worthless, far from it. It’s a critical facet of many people’s lives, entire ethnicities and cultures in fact. I never was a fan of pressing it upon others, from Missionaries to Jehova Witnesses, and that’s my biggest chafing point. However, this is not a rant post about what I do not like specifically, but an except about a large facet of history that I was unaware of.

I randomly decided to read about when the great fallout between Christianity and Islam began, and it turns out to be in 1453 when Mehmet II was the first outsider to successfuly sack Constantinople (now Istanbul), the Easternmost point of Roman Catholic influence and a source of Greek Orthodox pride and history. This book was a treat to read for the wealth of information I derived from it about not only the cause of the invasion from “the Turks”, but also the squabbling and division between both Rome and Constantinople over Catholic dogma. Ultimately, the Church was just as responsible for losing Constantinople as Mehmet was in attacking it. Another party highly responsible are the Venetian merchant traders who were selling goods to both sides of the war. That’s business for you.

Emporer Constantine IX, the last of his kind to rule the city as a Christian hub, fought valiantly with little outside resources and backup. Ultimately, he was this close to winning through attrition, but his luck ran out when one of his most trusted and popular Italian soldiers was horribly wounded in the last great siege (forget his name). When his troops carried him away from the front line, everything else sort of had a domino effect, and that was it. In the end, Constantine’s body was never verified among the corpses, and Mehmet II converted the city into his new home for Islam. If I had any pause to visit this city in Turkey before it’s completely gone now. I have to see theHagia Sofia in person.

Anyway, one of the most interesting things I learned is that back then, when Muslims would conquer Christians, and vice-versa, the victors would let the conquered practice their religion in peace. This was not universal (good luck with trying this in England), but in some parts of Europe/Asia, it was permitted. While their lives, money, and personal freedoms were dictated by their oppressors they were still free to worship as they pleased. This is an amazing contradiction to how things have proceeded since those days. “Convert or Die” seems to have been the running theme ever since European settlers found North America. Tolerance seemed to become a dirty word. Even the Pilgrims, who fled England to practice religion as they saw fit, sought to oppress the Puritans and Quakers when they moved to New England. A whole lot of hypocrisy going on.

Today’s invective accusations between Christianity and Muslims is atrocious fro this historical perspective. The events of 9/11 certainly did not help relations, but before this it was not nearly as openly cutthroat and hostile. People have forgotten how to be at peace with themselves and not judge lest ye be judged. As barbaric and cruel people were 600 years ago, at least some had a certain level of decency when it came to freedom of worship and letting others be.