The Effects of Religious Conflict in the CrusadesThe Crusades began when numerous requests for help from the Holy Land, resulting in a speech by Pope Urban II encouraging people to join the Christians fighting for Holy Land against Muslims. The role of religion played an important role in the Crusades. In this article I will discuss the role of religion by explaining their religious meaning, motivations, manifestations and the role of religious institutes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayMany Catholics live by a set of rules or reforms introduced when they were young. Sin is doing what is wrong according to God's rule, when they sin, they must go to church to talk to a priest who will offer penance. Penance features an important role in the crusades, according to Deus Volt-Gods Will published in 1905 "Urban II announced that anyone who joined the Crusade for religious reasons would be freed from such penance." While penance is achieved after one confesses one's sins and is forgiven, indulgences are the temporal punishment for sins. Indulgence could only be granted by the popes or by the archbishop and bishops. “During the mid-11th century, Christians had reconquered half the peninsula, so the popes had limited the availability of indulgences to those from other lands to assist the Spanish in their quest for reconquest.” (Crawford, Paul. “The Crusades.” Catholic Education Resource Center, 1997.Web, October 21, 2015. ) Meanwhile, various people were trying to identify the true motivations for such a holy war, if there were any. Pope Urban II's speech in Clermont was gaining public support for a holy war against Christianity against Islam. “Pope Urban II spoke forcefully to the leaders of the Church and the nobles of Europe at a service, in favor of a holy war in the Middle East.” The majority could neither read nor write and agreed with what civil and religious leaders said. Everyone was called to help in this fight, no matter how weak or poor they were. Even warriors and the rich were invited to participate in the fight for the defense of the Eastern Christians. All Christians at home have been told to support people at work by praying and fasting. There are many religious motivations for a holy war. Helping Eastern Christians was one of them, Pope Urban II believed that the first thing to do was to save Christians for the East. His successor, Pope Innocent III, wrote: “How can man love his neighbor as himself according to a divine perception when, knowing that his Christian brothers in faith and name are held by perfidious Muslims, he does not dedicate himself to the task of freeing them? ” (Madden, Thomas F. “The True Story of the Crusades.” The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts. Np, nd Web. October 21, 2015.) Another religious motivation for the holy war was the recovery of the true cross .The true cross was believed to be the wood of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Many Christians thought it was discovered in Jerusalem during the reign of Constantine. When they were defeated in the Battle of Hattin, the Muslims took the true cross attempts to recover the cross, failed and the True Cross has no longer been in the possession of Christians. There are many strong religious beliefs when examining the Crusade. One of them is sewing the sign of the cross onto fabrics binding and the crusader vow involved. “Ideally, the cross was worn and displayed publicly from the moment the vow was taken until the.