President Barack Obama created outrage at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC this morning. After remaining generally passive and silent about the barbaric acts of the Islamic terrorist organization ISIS, he breaks the silence by comparing ISIS to…the acts of Catholics during the Crusades…

So here’s my take on the controversy:

President Obama did speak about against the Islamic State, calling it “a brutal, vicious death cult.” So he got that correct.

But then our president went on to say: “We are summoned to push back against those who would distort our religion for their nihilistic ends.”

And this has people begging the question: what did he mean by “our religion.” In context it seems that he is still referring to Islam. I’m not a “truther” about President Obama being a Muslim, but this is an odd choice of words. I can only hope he meant to say: “We are summoned to push back against those who would distort our religions for their nihilistic ends.”

And then he goes on to warn us not to get up “on our high horse”:

And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”

I’ll just focus on the Crusades here. The Crusades were a Christian response to Muslim invasions and theft. The scimitar of Mohammad had reached into Spain, Eastern Europe, and the entire Mediterranean Sea. The people of Europe fought back. There is nothing wrong with a defensive war. I highly recommend the book God’s Battalions to get the full story of this historical situation.

Was every single action of every single crusade morally righteous? No. I’m not trying to defend every single deed. But the Crusades in general were a defensive struggle against Islam.

Have Christians done evil things in the name of Christ? Yes! But to compare the brutality of ISIS to the Crusades is dishonest. As Saint Paul commanded us, let us continue to honor and pray for President (1 Tim 2:2), but I don’t agree with him on this…

[reminder]Do you think the President of the United States made an unfair comparison?[/reminder]