Particularly given that the most infamous empire in world history was created long before Christianity existed (in fact, I'm still convinced it HAD to be that way for Christianity to spread as it did) and only ceased persecuting Christians in the last couple centuries of its existence. Blaming Christianity for imperialism is like blaming the pill for promiscuity: I'm FAIRLY certain the latter predates the former, so it's hard to see how the former is responsible for the latter. Was Genghis Khan a Christian? Tamerlane? Xerxes? Nebuchadnezzar?

Sure, unscrupulous people have perverted Christian doctrines into legitimizing imperialism, as they have many doctrines, religious and otherwise, but laying that all at the feet of Christianity is both unfair to Christ and unduly generous to a lot of others. Being predisposed toward the spiritual rather than the material makes imperialism difficult to defend within almost ANY religious tradition, and yet it's been tried at various times with all of them. I could blame all Republicans for the Iraq invasion, too, but as enjoyable as it might be, it wouldn't be honest, nor fair to people like Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul, who opposed the war from the start. Doesn't mean I like all or even most of their OTHER policy positions, just that I'm not going to take an entire group to task for something neither unique nor unanimous among their ranks.

In one sense, a purely cultural and nationalistic rather than religious one, the Crusades have never ended, just as they began long before there were Popes around to promise celestial glory for waging war. On that level, Persias war with Greece and the Siege of Vienna were as much part of the Crusades as the fall of Constantinople. That's not about "Christian" Europe any more than it is the "Muslim" Mid-East though; it may be appealing to various demagogues at various times to make it into a righteous holy war rather merely cynical geopolitics, but allowing them that deceitful luxury only aids their cause.