Christians attributed Muslim success to inherent fanaticism rather than their own failures.

Evidence

Smith’s reference to the armies of Islam reflected a troubling question: Why had the armies of Christendom been unable to halt the rapid Muslim expansion? Why were current missionaries unable to convert Muslims today? After all, many Christians considered the steady global advance of their religion as a testament to its truth. How to explain yesterday’s setbacks and today’s stalemate? One answer that most Americans and Britons seemingly accepted was that the inherent fanaticism of (male) Muslims produced their violent success. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 148

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The pivot is precise and paradigm-shifting: the theological embarrassment of Christendom’s own failed expansion is resolved not by self-examination but by displacing fault onto the enemy’s character. This is the anatomy of the frightened subject in microcosm.
• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s guiding question about relocating the problem from ‘them’ to ‘us’ — here the analysis sits exactly at that pivot.