Catholic conversion by sword

Submitted by debbie j (United States), Jan 28, 2007 at 15:16

When did the Catholic Church decree in doctrine, Magisterium, Tradition, or Bible, that Christ's Church should convert by force? So many say that Christianity also has blood on its hands. Perhaps certain "christians" have blood on their hands, but that is not the teaching of Mother Church. Some bring up the Crusades, saying that they were offensive, when, in fact, they were a DEFENSIVE act, taken after many abuses by muslims. As you know by Her objection to the Iraq war, the Church is slow to act. In World War II, along with most world nations, She was against action against Hitler, lest more people die as a retaliatory act against world protest. Little have we learned since then. Although Hitler was not on a religious quest to eliminate infidels, the results were the same and it took many deaths to wake the world to action. Though religious in its scope, the jihad has the same goal as Hitler; blame for for their misery on the "other" and elimination of it.

Why do muslims accuse the west of colonization, when mohamet overran and subjigated non-muslims. Was that not a form of "colonization". Besides, the US allowed their protectorates to govern themselves. From what I can gather, if muslims overtook any country, the country was theirs and any effort to retreive the country by its native people was not a defense, but an intrusion into "historically muslim lands."

As a Catholic, I fear a day in the not too distant future when we will be called to die for our faith, a martyrdom quite different than that meant by islam. I am compelled to pray for the souls of the muslims who have been led astray...

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