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A Brief History of The Militarization of Christianity
From strict pacifists to the Crusades and beyond
Christianity has a long and bloody history. From the Crusades to the Wars of Reformation to the two world wars, Christians have fought tirelessly for centuries. Sometimes, they fought among themselves. Other times, they fought against rival religions. At other times, they fought for what they felt was right. Some even allowed themselves to willingly become pawns of empire and indulge in their own personal ambitions.
But this was not always the case.
The earliest Christians were strict pacifists. They refused to enlist in the army. They refused to fight or kill for their beliefs. This is why the pages of early Christianity are filled with hundreds of names of martyrs. They would rather die than raise a hand against their persecutors. In this, they were following the example of their Lord Jesus, who preached that one should always turn the other cheek and refused to defend himself against the Jewish and Roman accusations. Jesus went calmly to the cross without raising his voice or his hand in defense.
So what happened? How did Christianity morph from a religion of pacifists and martyrs to a religion of crusaders and generals? The truth is that Christianity was put onto a militarized path relatively…
