"It is easy enough for modern people to dismiss the Crusades as morally repugnant or cynically evil. Such judgments, however, tell us more about the observer than the observed. They are based on uniquely modern (and therefore, Western) values. If, from the safety of our modern world, we are quick to condemn the Medieval Crusader, we should be mindful that he would be just as quick to condemn us. Our infinitely more destructive wars waged for the sake of political and social ideologies would, from his view, be lamentable wastes of human life. In both societies, the medieval and the modern, people fight for what is most dear to them. That is a fact of human nature that is not so changeable." - Thomas Madden in the book (The New Concise History Of The Crusades)

One divining factor. One simple thing sets humanity apart from the filth and detritus of others. It keeps the weak, able. The strong, humble. The lost, wanting. That is faith. Faith that our way is righteous. That all others are but fools to the infinite truth of Humanity. That we are the product of something greater. That our bastions and civilizations shall always rise above the evil and wicked.

"Faith is the soul of any army; be it vested in primitive religion or enlightened truth. It makes even the least soldier mighty, the craven is remade worthy and through its balm any hardship may be endured. Faith ennobles all of the worlds the soldier undertakes be they so base or vile, and imports to them the golden spark of transcendent purpose."

"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.