Divided We Fall

Have you ever wondered why Christians are so divided? It is estimated that there are over 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. The very first and greatest division in Christianity happened in 1054 AD when the Roman church split with the eastern church over some minor differences, one of them being when one word, filioque, was added to the Nicene Creed, in what became known as the Great Schism. This was not only the beginning of the end but the fatal blow to Christianity as a unified religion. The first deleterious consequence of this split happened in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Muslim Turks. Constantinople, today known as Istanbul, was the capital of Christianity since 335 AD. The Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople was the greatest and most grandiose Christian Church in the world. With the fall of Constantinople, the last vestige of the Roman Empire ended forever; Christianity lost half of its geographic territory and was seriously wounded.

The Eastern Roman Empire was more commonly known as the Byzantine Empire after the fall of the Western Empire, around 476 AD. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of a Christian era and the elimination of Christianity in a large part of the world. Imagine what it would be like today if we lost all of Europe to a Muslim power. Today you know The Byzantine Empire as the modern country of Turkey. Turkey was known as Asia Minor in Roman days and was the cradle of Christianity. We are still paying the price today for the loss of the Byzantine Empire. The Muslims gained not only a large area of land the size of a continent, but they gained enormous political and military power that they still exercise today.

The Ottoman Empire was one of the world’s strongest and most enduring empires of all time, certainly on par with the empires of Persia, Babylon, Greece of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire. The Ottoman Empire ended with the end of World War I. With the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, the British became the dominant power broker in the area and they proceeded to cut up the area in a hodgepodge of countries such as Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. In Iraq, they drew the national borders to include three diverse ethnic groups, the Kurds, the Sunni Muslims and the Shia Muslims, which in turn gave us the problems we have today.

I’ve often wondered out loud how the Western Europeans could let their Christian brothers be conquered without lifting a finger. A very small army from the City state of Genoa, a force of about 800 soldiers, did answer the call from the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, but the rest did nothing. I’ve often verbalized this rhetorical question, knowing that there is no answer coming. The Muslims did not just start fighting us on 9/11 they’ve been fighting us since the death of Mohammed around 632 AD. A brief summary:

At the death of Mohammed, the Muslims started their military and religious conquest of everything they could take, starting from the area of current day Saudi Arabia. They not only conquered land but also killed all those who refused to convert to Islam. The Muslim conquest was so enormous that it was breathtaking. For example, they conquered not only the entire Middle East and North Africa, but also large parts of Europe, including Spain, Greece, Yugoslavia, Sicily and Southern Italy. They were finally stopped just short of Vienna. Spain was finally liberated from the Muslims in the famous war with the Moors in 1492. The Spanish King, Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, could not approve Christopher Columbus’s exploration of the America’s until the defeat of the Muslim Moors. Sicily and Southern Italy were liberated by Norman-French private armies in 1095, Led by Roger de Houteville, who later became the first King of Sicily, Roger I. In my hometown of Geraci Siculo in the beautiful Madonie Mountains of north central Sicily, there are splendid Saracen ruins such as castles and huge escape underground tunnels. The Muslims in Sicily and Southern Italy were known as Saracens.

Many liberal people today argue that we should never go to war. Yes, technically, that is true, war is very bad, but wars in some cases are necessary. In 1453, Western Europe decided, “war was not the answer.” They let their Christian brothers be slaughtered, annihilated, and have their entire empire be conquered. During the conquest of Constantinople, the Turks murdered anyone that refused to surrender. The defenseless Byzantines were crushed, never to be seen or heard of again. Download Lars Brownworth’s pod cast of the history of The Byzantine Empire called “12 Byzantine Rulers”. Brownworth, a scholar of this area, delivers a compelling tale with great narration that will leave you spell bound; a gem for any history buff.

Today, most Christians will not even cooperate with each other even when they agree. For example, they rarely cooperate to end abortion, even though they agree on the dignity of life. Recently, a group of Protestants and Catholics did cooperate with the signing of the Manhattan Declaration. I urge all of you to sign this declaration by clicking on this link. Some people grumbled that they would not sign it because they claim that some liberal Christians signed it. What? How can you fail to cooperate with someone who is on your side? The Manhattan Declaration is a great move since it marks one of the first time that Christians have decided to cooperate. Together they can accomplish things like political power to prevent liberal domination of the abortion issue in law. Apart they can have little effect. Being divided is exactly what the opposition wants. Divided we fall, united we win. We must learn from history or we will be condemned to repeat it as it was pointed out in my first post on this blog.