ABSTRACT
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a crusade as “an aggressive movement or enterprise against some public evil.” By this definition, a crusade can be undertaken in the name of almost any cause and for the sake of almost any objective. One can have a crusade for adult literacy, for example, or a crusade to save the environment. Yet modern calls for crusade still carry loaded connotations of medieval holy war. When al-Qaida terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush characterized Americas forthcoming response as a “crusade”; he soon regretted using the word. Nonetheless, three months later National Review magazine decided to grace its cover with an illustration of President Bush decked out in a medieval crusader’s costume. Obviously, crusades continue to make news.
