I'm a lapsed Lutheran and an atheist. I'm certainly not arguing that the Catholic Church isn't repressive. I think you and I have quite similar gender politics in the present. We seem to have different ideas about history.
I still don't quite understand how the crusades fit into your view of oppressed heathens and women in the past. You do know that their overarching goal (often missed) was to establish Christian rule in the Holy Land? They did not involve any polytheists.
