This is an extremely simplistic way of portraying the history of Malta and the orders of knights that engaged in holy wars... I mean, not to defend the guys, or to say that their whole history was animated by one spirit (as you imply), but they saw themselves as defenders of the Christian faith.
In their most famous war, the Turkish Sultan was trying to seize Malta so it would serve as a port to facilitate an invasion of Europe.
Of course there were times when men were acting like pirates, they were battling an enemy whose religion sanctioned the capture and enslavement of infidels.
This is a weird post.