From Roger L. Simon comes this story and analysis:
bq. I have been thinking today about my only visit to Cordoba some years ago because of new demands by Moslems to worship in that city's famous cathedral. (It had been a mosque until the 13th Century.) I had been to Spain several times before, even lived there for a year, but had not been prepared for my visit to this building. One of the true masterpieces, its beauty is extraordinary. In fact, it would be about as close to perfection as any edifice of its size I have ever seen except that it has been marred by the far less impressive Catholic Cathedral built in and around it. Were I Islamic, I would be angry on aesthetic grounds alone.
bq. Unfortunately, those do not seem to be the grounds here. Something far more sinister is involved that speaks to the frightening problem we are all living through today. These people don't just want the mosque back, they want the land it sits on and the country it's in. Both Bin Laden and Saddam (on his visit to Andalusia) have said this quite explicitly. We all know that generals are often accused of fighting the last war, but as Ralph Peters points out, the Islamic world is still fighting a war that ended in 1492. This obsession with the past is the essence of Islamism and since, from the perspective of modern civilization, it is so fundamentally insane, it is extremely difficult to reason with or to counteract it. That is why we are probably going to be engaged in this confrontation for years to come.
Rogers closing comment nails it on the head:
bq. Meanwhile, as to the issue of Moslems being allowed to use the Cordoba cathedral as a mosque, normally my ecumenical PC response would be, sure, why not? But as Jew, I recall I am not even allowed to visit Saudi Arabia, let alone worship there. So it's hard to believe there is any ecumenism involved here. There is only jihad and dawaa.
One of the comments to Roger's writing is just as direct and to the point:
bq. Muslims should be allowed to pray in the Cordoba Cathedral when Christians are allowed to build a cathedral in Saudi Arabia. And Jews be able to build a synagogue.
bq. I have been thinking today about my only visit to Cordoba some years ago because of new demands by Moslems to worship in that city's famous cathedral. (It had been a mosque until the 13th Century.) I had been to Spain several times before, even lived there for a year, but had not been prepared for my visit to this building. One of the true masterpieces, its beauty is extraordinary. In fact, it would be about as close to perfection as any edifice of its size I have ever seen except that it has been marred by the far less impressive Catholic Cathedral built in and around it. Were I Islamic, I would be angry on aesthetic grounds alone.
bq. Unfortunately, those do not seem to be the grounds here. Something far more sinister is involved that speaks to the frightening problem we are all living through today. These people don't just want the mosque back, they want the land it sits on and the country it's in. Both Bin Laden and Saddam (on his visit to Andalusia) have said this quite explicitly. We all know that generals are often accused of fighting the last war, but as Ralph Peters points out, the Islamic world is still fighting a war that ended in 1492. This obsession with the past is the essence of Islamism and since, from the perspective of modern civilization, it is so fundamentally insane, it is extremely difficult to reason with or to counteract it. That is why we are probably going to be engaged in this confrontation for years to come.
Rogers closing comment nails it on the head:
bq. Meanwhile, as to the issue of Moslems being allowed to use the Cordoba cathedral as a mosque, normally my ecumenical PC response would be, sure, why not? But as Jew, I recall I am not even allowed to visit Saudi Arabia, let alone worship there. So it's hard to believe there is any ecumenism involved here. There is only jihad and dawaa.
One of the comments to Roger's writing is just as direct and to the point:
bq. Muslims should be allowed to pray in the Cordoba Cathedral when Christians are allowed to build a cathedral in Saudi Arabia. And Jews be able to build a synagogue.
