Wolf,

You are right that FC’s main point is about Jesus vs. Muhammad, and you are right about the very different messages of each.

The earthly followers of Jesus fall short of the ideal.

(At the same time, however, I resist well-intentioned generalizations such as FC’s that implicitly or directly bash the [so-called] Middle Ages, which is the crucible of our civilization. That’s like insulting your ancestors for no good reason. We have to give those ancestors a lot more credit. The Crusades, for example, as called by Urban, were about responding to unjust conditions and restoring just order. Of course the real Crusades failed to live up to the ideal.

If we take FC’s arguments to their logical extent, pacifism seems to be the only moral position for a follower of Jesus? Plenty of Christians take this point of view. I don’t. I find it interesting that Jesus, as far as I know, never criticized a soldier, nor any of Israel’s military history. At least as far as I remember. He criticized Peter for using the sword unlawfully, for sure. And the default teaching is always in favor of love, peace, and fellowship.]

Thanks for the comment.