Wide words for difficult times: "The Crusades are a religiously justified violent campaign against a whole other civilization ... All of this culminates in the horrible religious wars of the 17th Century, which were the crucible out of which democracy was born. The reaction of Enlightenment figures, to the horrors of these religious wars, was to say religion simply can no longer be the defining note of the state. Thank goodness, there’s this ingenious movement to separate the church from the state, so that states guarantee the religious freedom of individual citizens by remaining religiously neutral themselves."

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3267