Different Religious Groups in Jerusalem

On Wednesday in class, it was shocking to learn the ways that the people of the 3 major world religions interacted with each other, especially when they came to have control of Jerusalem. One of the most shocking was the extent to which Christians killed the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the crusades. The reading explains how the “Crusaders systematically slaughtered about thirty thousand of the inhabitants of Jerusalem… they killed everyone, whether male or female” (Armstrong 1997, 290). This was one piece of information that I do not recall learning about the crusades. I was aware that the crusades were a way to ‘reclaim the Holy Land”, but I was unaware of the extent to which Christians carried it out. It is shocking because generally (as a Christian myself), I picture Christianity, at least in the modern day, as being peaceful. While this is true in most of the world today, I remember learning in the course Medieval Christianity that the religion is not necessarily built on the most positive events. Many aspects of early Christianity were very beneficial to people that held positions of power in Europe. For example, paying indulgences was a common practice that was believed to forgive sins for donating money to the Church. It was also decreed that those who participated in the Crusades would receive an indulgence for doing so. While these aspects do not portray Christianity in the best light, I believe it is important to keep these in mind, especially when comparing these major monotheistic religions. Christians did commit atrocities, but it was not only Christians who killed the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Christians were also killed at different points. With all of this being true of Jerusalem thousands of years ago, it is refreshing to see that Jerusalem now holds 4 quarters of people of different religions living together (without extreme violence against each other). There may be disputes with each other over ownership and access of different holy sites (for example, the Western Wall), but these disputes do not lead to extreme violence within the city. It is nice to see the way in which these religious communities have been able to coexist in a city that is sacred to all of them.