Same Old Battle, Different Century

It occurred to me the other day, after having read numerous scathing remarks about Muslims, Islam, and watching a "Battle training video" for Christians, that the Crusades never ended.

There is an age old battle being waged, still.

Christianity, versus Islam. In recent history the outspoken citizens of this country have attempted to remind us, time and time again, that this is a Christian country. Regardless of one's personal opinion on the truth of that statement, it is in fact what many believe to be true. And so, for many, it is the truth.

Rewind for a moment to the eleventh century, a time when pilgrimages to the holy land for Christians were ever increasing, and tension between "The Church" or Christians, and anyone else, particularly "The Infidels" or Muslims (also referred to at times, as "Mohammedan") were intensifying.

As most know, the battle to control the holy lands in the Middle East is nothing new, in fact it's a down right ancient tradition of sorts. As the territories in the vicinity are seen as religiously important places, and the further importance of these places has become known to the world via Big Oil, it certainly makes sense that war is ever present.

However, for those of us who question the motives of the US in the Middle East, if we consistently focus on oil, and not the religious connotations, we could be missing a piece of the puzzle, no? What if, just what if, there are still religious intentions running as a sub current to the modern day warfare so seemingly secular raging on today?

Is it hard to believe that religious warfare could be the cause of so much strife in the Middle East, and that the US is party to it?

Thats not to say that this is a main cause of war today, not even our invasion into Iraq. There is this gut feeling however, that perhaps it is a subconscious effort. I still can't help but think about the battle cries that Christianity is our nation's religion, and that our country is Christian, and how we need to be good Christians in this country, and create laws that reflect that, and furthermore the pairing of our expansion into other pats of the world as a symbol of "witnessing" in a Christian manner...

Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself.